I’m probably going to offend a lot of people, and might regret posting this, but I need to say something about it.

I AM SO SICK OF EVERYONE’S RELIGIOUS AGENDA, HATE, INTOLERANCE, AND ARROGANCE.

I am absolutely EXHAUSTED by it. Yes, you have your beliefs. You have your ethics. You have your morals. But so do I. And your beliefs are not more important than mine. And I have enough respect for you to not put my beliefs in your face most of the time.

Yes, I have been facebooking and tweeting about that stuff a lot lately. But, it’s because I’m immature and want you to feel as shitty and angry as your posts make me feel. So instead of being passive aggressive, I’m just going to get everything out now and hope that you all take it into consideration.

In America we have a few beautiful things. One of them is freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want to whomever want whenever you want. But having that right doesn’t mean that you should. Perhaps you should take into account how what your words will make someone else feel. I notice this primarily with Christians. I used to be Christian. I used to got o church three times a week. I used to go to prayer circles and conferences. I used to love the Lord God with all my heart. Until I realized that I didn’t. And that was really hard for me to come to terms with. So hard, in fact, that I tried depserately to be Christian. I missed my Christian friends. I really enjoyed going to church (Well, not the church I was going to regularly, but some of the other ones I attended). But I was enjoying it in an educational aspect. It’s the same reason I watch history channel so often. I just really like to learn. I tried so hard to be Christian that I pretended. Thinking that if I pretended long enough, I would just feel it. And I never did.

With that being said, I’m happier now that I can just accept that I don’t believe in a god. I believe in people. I believe humanity. I believe you can live a full and meaningful life without devoting it to a god. I’ve had people tell me that I’m just angry with God. That you can’t be angry with something you don’t believe in. But I’m not angry. I still wish I had that belief. I think it would make things easier. But it just doesn’t make any sense. There are too many holes in the bible, too many discrepancies, too many contradictions. So it doesn’t make sense to me. Which is okay.

Facebook and Twitter are social networking sites. I understand that. We post all sorts of stupid crap. I understand that also. For example, I have no qualms about posting funny things I hear throughout the day. Or posting a link to a particularly interesting news story. Or a link to something stupid. But posting these things about religion (etc) every five seconds seems inappropriate to me. Yes, I am also guilty of it. But I am so tired of seeing these things. Yes, I understand you love god. But for those of you who are Christians, you have to understand what this is like for those of us who aren’t. You bringing up god every five seconds and almost demanding that someone else take your up beliefs, is like me bringing up something that seems completely irrelevent to you and demanding that you read it. Yes, I understand that most of the things we put on facebook and twitter are stupid, but shouldn’t we at least attempt to be courteous? If you attempt to be courteous, then I will, too. Sound like a deal? Maybe it’s not issue for most of you. But about half of my friends on facebook are gung-ho christians and the other half are either not christian at all, or more respectful of other people’s beliefs.I don’t usually post my beliefs about that kind of stuff because I don’t want to alienate any of my friends.

It is NOT okay is to shove your beliefs in my face. I do not shove my beliefs in your face. Recently, I had someone literally tell me I’m a bad person for not believing in a god or that Jesus is the savior. So, I would also like to say this:

I AM A GOOD, HARDWORKING, ETHICAL AND MORAL PERSON. NOT BEING A CHRISTIAN DOES NOT NEGATE THAT FACT.

So, while we are somewhat on that subject, I would also like to say that we do NOT make LAWS based upon RELIGION. SO PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT YOU THINK IS HOLY, PLEASE GET YOUR RELIGION OUT MY POLITICS!

So, quickly, I would like to say a few things.

Marriage should have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the state in the first place. Marriage is a RELIGIOUS union. And, since the constitution says that there is to be separation of church and state, marriage should have nothing to do with the state, but since no one seems to understand that, I would like to say NOWHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION DOES IT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE! Who the hell cares who you marry?! I certainly don’t! I unless you are my friend or family and I hate the man or woman you are marrying, or think they’re a bad person or whatever. In which case, I only care because I care about YOU. Please give me one, just one, constitutional reason why my friend Adam can’t file taxes with someone of his choosing. Or why it matters who becomes Courtney’s power of attorney. Who the hell cares?! Since it’s such an issue, why don’t we just get rid of marriage as a government issue altogether? Your church can deal with that. I say, if you want a civil union, be civilly united with whoever the hell you want!

On the subject of Planned Parenthood, I am SO SICK of people being confused about their services. Free and low cost treatment of STDs is a service. Birth control. Counseling services. Pelvic exams. Breast exams. I cannot even BEGIN to discuss how important these services are. I wish I could pay them what they are worth. But I can’t. Luckily though, I don’t have to. Because they take into consideration my income and financial situations.

As for abortion services, it’s not as though you can walk in and say “Heyy! What’s up?! I’d like an abortion please!”

No. They talk to you about ALL of your other options first. It’s not as though they ENCOURAGE you get an abortion. It’s sort of a last resort. Nobody thinks “Ah, well, if I get pregnant, I’ll just get the big A”. No. It’s not like that. They want you to consider all other options, make you do counseling, and then come back.

I was recently shown a video on YouTube. (here, if you’re interested). It was shown to me in an attempt to get me to change my mind about Planned Parenthood. After watching, this was my response:

• • Uhh, so there’s a part that says “We get as little information as possible [inaudible].” So, you really can’t assume anything there.
    Also, Planned Parenthood prides themselves on providing young girls with a safe and P…RIVATE environment. Personally, I went to planned parenthood many times without my parents knowledge or consent when I was in high school. I also escorted many of my friends. I’m extremely grateful that my parents are so understanding and open about those kind of issues, so the fact that I went without them knowing was probably unneccessary. Many of my friends parents pretended that teen sex, and really any health problems didn’t exist, making it near impossible for them to get the help or care they needed.

  • This woman did her job. She kept the privacy of her potential patients. She gave information. She did not jump to conclusions. Honestly, I would have done the exact same thing in her situation. Freaking out and going straight away to the police would have meant those girls would not get the help and care that they so …desperately need. Also, the “pimp” would not have been allowed in the exam room with her, anyway. Which would have created a safe environment to tell anything. What’s to say this woman didn’t contact law enforcement after these people left?

  • The behavior of this group is disgusting. And this woman’s identity should have been kept private. Also, this was obviously done but a very biased group. So, I have my same thoughts on Planned Parenthood. I thank them, and send them all the donations I can afford. I refer my friends to them. I refer my patients at the pharma…cy to them. And to be extremely honest, I have had a similar conversation with a patient on the phone at work. Now I’m wondering if I was being set up by a Christian activist group.

  • REGARDLESS of what this woman did, her actions are NOT the actions of PLANNED PARENTHOOD. They are HER OWN PERSONAL ACTIONS.
    I could find a million other videos or essays like this on the internet. But I could find a million other videos and essays about how wonderful Planned Parenthood is and how lucky we are to have them as… a resource. The fact is, we are both biased. I believe in them, because without them, I wouldn’t be me. I can’t say where I would be exactly, but I can for SURE, without any doubt, say that I would be in a bad situation. or I would have been in a bad situation. Take that to mean what you might, but I owe them so much. Much more than I could afford to give them. You are biased because you believe that they support underground, underage sex rings, and kill babies kill babies (which is an ENTIRE OTHER ISSUE… you should boycott most OB/GYN offices and ALL hospitals too, if abortion is the issue)… Your opinions are completely valid, but so are mine. But putting this garbage on the internet is offensive, and could possibly scare young girls away from getting help or care.
    
    After getting that off my chest, I know that you are going to completely disagree with me. Which is fine, obviously. We don’t live in a country where it’s illegal to have an opinion. But this video is offensive. I listen to NPR religiously, and as I stated before, I haven’t heard any news reports about this or anything even close to it.
    
    I could go on and on and on and on and on, but I’ll leave you with that.

Aside from these two issues, someone on NPR said that she is very involved in “trying to bring God back into the government”. This is RIDICULOUS. The constitution that our forefathers wrote, explicitly and obviously said that that should never, EVER happen. I am of the firm believer in that. As an atheist (or agnostic, perhaps? I’m not sure. I’m still toying with both of these ideas), having god shoved down my throat by anybody, let alone politicians or the government, is like being punched in the gut. Which is precisely the reason I try never to talk about my beliefs unless I am specifically asked, or in an environment where I know the people around me are curious, interested, and accepting.

I feel better having said that. Not as good as I thought I would, though. So, I’m going to go ahead and warn you: If you witness to me, post anything hateful about Planned Parenthood and/or gay marriage, then I will refute it. Immediately.

I could go on about these issues for hours. And hours. Probably days, realistically.

OH, and on one last note:

What the hell does “Pro-Family” mean? Some lady on NPR kept saying she’s “pro-family” and “anti-abortion”. Is ANYONE anti-family? Or pro-abortion? I don’t know one person who thinks “I HATE FAMILIES!” or “I LOVE ABORTION! EVERYONE SHOULD GET ONE!”

Ok. Thanks for reading my rant. That is all.