Angry Atheist 101

We, The Super mighty Team Atheist, often times get asked something to the extent "WTF," "Why do you even care," "Why not just live and let live?" Well kind gentle and very good looking readers, I'll tell ya why...and how. Just like there are two kinds of people, there are two kinds of religion: good and bad, liberal v extreme, symbolic v. literal.

If someone has a liberal belief system and doesn't read the bible as the literal word of God, if someone wants/needs to use the metaphor of a Christ-man-god as something that mere humans can strive to emulate, to better ourselves, as a ladder to reach for God, or as a "something something" to aspire to to reach heights above and beyond humanity (if such a thing even exists), then I'm cool with that. But...

If the person, group or community believes that the bible is the literal word of God and it must be followed no matter what and that belief system preaches and teaches hate of certain other groups (GLBT, women, other religions, no religion etc...), that belief teaches that they must dominate others, then my friend...the shit is on.

There are two very important terms to know, if ya want to be an outraged angry atheist, dominionism and American exceptionalism.

Dominionism is just as it sounds, dominate. Not all Christians are dominionist, but the ones that are, are very powerful and influential. Their mission is to infiltrate every sector of society, public schools, government, military, movie houses, bakery's, every and anything in secular society they want to control it. It is not enuff to share the good news with you, a dominionist wants total control, a total takeover of what should be a secular and religion free public square.

American exceptionalism is the theory that God loves America better than everyone else (really) and that if we become the house on the hill, then God will favor us and shower us with, err...Godly stuffs. Any who, God has chosen America as his favorite and that is why "we" can stick our noses in other countries business, we can invade other countries (to spread Christianity of course) and basically, we can dominate-hence dominionism.

What makes us better than anyone else. An interpretation from that bronze age book that those atheist keep talking about and the revelation that God has spoken and it is "our" duty, our mission to make this so. In reality, those that subscribe to these two terms are no better than their Islamic counterparts that claim Allah wants them to spread and takeover. I haven't seen it in the media lately, but don't forget the American Taliban. Taliban is Taliban is Taliban someone used to say. Religious extremism is bad all the way around, no matter who or what side is practicing it.

GW Bush infamously filled cabinet posts, government positions with evangelical peeps that also believed as he did, that God hearts America better and that it is the American duty to spread that specific form of Christianity. Like I have said many times, they have entire universities, TV and radio stations, they already dominate the landscape; but they want more.

That is angry atheist 101, folks.

* The idiocy of American exceptionalism, from DFCW

* Denial of Dominionism from Religion Dispatches.

* I forgot an important term, The New Apostolic Reformation.

Sitting On The Fence

Well my project called Nu Kriss Summer/Fall2011 is going crap-ola. The same goes for my project Nu Kriss: The Phoenix Arises From The Ashes...But I'm Still In The Ashes Part. This reinventing myself (to kill time as I wait for the meds to kick in) is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Let's what I have done so far.

I no longer follow sports. It has been months since I've watched any sports  or even read the sports section. The real test will be the upcoming football season. Forty Niner's, we had some good times baby...but the shit is over.

I'm not going to any more three day hippie camp out festivals. I can't explain how bad the last experience was and as of now (while waiting for the meds to kick in) I'm just not up to it. I could have worked at one this last weekend (lineup looked lame anyways) and one two weekends before (with a really great lineup), but I opted to be a homebody. There are two coming up that I can go to, but it doesn't look good. Super weirdo thing, I'm not even listening to music for pleasure right now and I'm certainly not playing any (thinking about giving my guitars and amps away). Music we have had a great history, but the shit is over baby.

With that is also the drugs. Oh my precious drugs. I'm really gonna miss that. Beautiful pills that let you feel relaxed and pain free (it sure is hard being a 42 y/o athlete) and perhaps I'm making this up but...I sure can drink more when I'm high on pills. Any who, that is Old Kriss. In fact it looks like me and Mary Jane are also a thing of the past. Peeps keep giving me weed, but it's too strong and it doesn't make me feel good. In fact it makes me feel bad. So c'ya later Mary, "E", mushrooms, mali, coke and anything else. Nu Kriss is sticking to the Prozac and delicious beer...and that is it.

1,000's of naked hotties and drugs...c'ya later.

OK, I'm babbling. There really is some atheism that I want to get down to concerning Nu Kriss. Change, letting go, redefining yourself whatever you want to call it, it doesn't come easy. Stuff like cutting my hair is still on the chopping block (and other stuffs) but the one I've been thinking about a lot is whether I should be a full fledged angry atheist or should I just stick to my Obama-esque, middle of the way, acomodationalist atheist stance.

Religion is a force of good and bad. I really do believe that if we had a truly secular society, then there would be world peace. And if religion is put on the shelf right next to folklore and mythology (which I do not think will happen in my lifetime), then the world will be better off. What is stopping me from becoming the Filipino Christopher Hitchens is the little old lady that goes to church on Sunday and is a good person. What has she ever done to me. There are many good religious people. So what the fuck. I'll tell y'all what the fuck.

When the super awesome Greta Christina came to our humble Sac Town a couple of months ago I asked her about this. Basically she said there has been too much harm done. And it's true. Just look at how women and the GLBT communities have been treated and it is easy to see the harm done. I guess it could be seen like, err, if you had a homie that was abusive to his g-friend or a danger to himself, then wouldn't you say something (I would). The same goes for religion. If I belonged to a group that was totally hating on some of my friends (like Christianity v GLBT), then I would try and do something. If I was Israeli I would speak up for Palestine.  If I was Catholic I would speak up for gay rights. I couldn't be a part of something that does so much harm.

Nu Kriss is a gonna draw the line in the sand very soon. I'm going Humpty Dumpty but I don't know if I'm falling on the side of angry atheist or acomodationalist. The difference as I see it is an angry atheist wants to end religion. It is all bad, and yes there are good people that are believers, but the whole overall thingy of it is bad bad bad. The acomodationalist can differentiate between a terrorist that is Muslim and a Muslim-no terror. There are Christians that are socially just like me except on Sunday they go to church and I watch football (shit I don't know what I'm a gonna do now). Then again there are pedio-priests and pastors and groups that propagate hate like Westboro Baptist Church.

What to do...what to do.

* The best of Hitchslap This vid really pumps me up and edges me to angry atheist. So frackin' good.

The Transformation

As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently sitting on the fence: I can either remain a nice atheist (accommodationalist) to a full fledged angry atheist. After reading this article, so it seems, the transformation is (almost) complete.

Evangelist Luis Palau is planning a super huge tent revival here, in my town, in Sac Town. Dude is huge in the Billy Graham way. He has had audiences of 900,000 in Buenos Aries, 250,000 in Huston and 300,000 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. The thingy that he is planning for Sac Town will have 400 local churches, an expected 175,000 evangelical weirdos participating and a budget of just over a million dollars. Leading up to the event there will be a 6 month community service effort that will help people struggling in these dire times; and ya know what, Nu Kriss is mad about that.

Like I said there is a transformation happening. Before I would say give credit where credit is due. These believers are a-gonna help the peeps: help the homeless and the poor and the struggling. No more. Sure these are worthy and honorable, but I can't help but be negative and think that there are alternative motives. After all, they are on a mission from God.

First of all there is the crafty language. Dude does not want to call it a tent revival or a crusade (which does describe the effort). Instead he wants to call it a festival. Call it what you will, it is evangelicalism, elitist, exclusive, and for the uninitiated... indoctrinating.

One local pastor said, "We want to show love and compassion and to show what we are for, rather than what we are against." Nu Kriss can see beyond that. So what that means to me is that they are going to hide their homophobia and Islamophobia. The very nature of Evangelical Christianity is intolerance. It is our way or the highway to hell (and there is no hell, only the use of fear to get you and I to comply to their doctrine.)

"If there is an atheist organization trying to meet the needs of the community doing service projects like this, I'd be happy to help them," the pastor said (Sac Bee)."

Ugh, is that propoganda, because I do not believe that at all. Sure they might welcome some atheist help, but that is when the converting happens. The article states that 95% of people are "spiritually hungry." Really, because my skeptic meter is going off. That is a tactic right outta the alternative healing and CAM camps. They make shit up and naive people eat that shit up and say, "There must be something wrong with me." 


"We are going to shake this town spiritually" the article says. I say that believers have hijacked the word 'spiritual.' One can be spiritual without religion and religion is not the only path to spirituality. They are not hand in glove. The Old Kriss would have taken that with a pinch of salt, hell, I might have even been apologetic about that statement. No more.


The article also said that changing the word 'crusade' to festival was with intent because the word crusade has negative connotations (ya think). And that is what Nu Kriss thinks is wrong. It is not honest, a word does not change a wolf in sheep's clothing. They are still elitist and homophobic and I do not care that they are helping people for that one weekend (welcome to Nu Kriss). They have a mission and their mission is to convert and indoctrinate. 


June 16-17 2012 will be a crappy weekend for Sac Town.


* Article Sac Bee


* Does anyone know how I stop the font changes after I quote from the paper. WTF. It's so bad. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa........................