American Heathen®

(Editorial Comment from the American Heathen® radio show – Air Date 01/22/10)

Respect.  It’s something that is earned.  It is acknowledging something or someone that is deserving.   Built in character, experience, history, truth and honor, it is a nod of the head, a wink of the eye, a firm handshake, a warm hug, or a gentle kiss.  Respect is not given lightly or in excess, and it requires no extraordinary effort.  It is given freely as it is labored for.  It is not a mandatory requirement, nor is it a law.  Respect is given on equal footing, balanced by its deeds and its words.

I respect my friends. They have earned my respect.  My keen eye has judged them to be worthy of my respect. Through careful observation, conversation, and character analysis, I have measured my friends with the ethics of humanity and their contributions to it. I measure them by their honor, integrity, and loyalty to human principles.  I measure them on their honesty, forthrightness, and strength of character.  Indeed, they have earned my respect.  They do what they say, and say what they do.

This brings me to religion.  Should religion get a free pass when it comes to respect?  Simply for existing, does religion warrant special treatment, absent of all requirements because it claims a supreme being as the world’s master?  What has it done to earn my, or anyone’s respect?  Deeds?  Religion feeds the poor.   Religion shelters the homeless.  Sure. But, don’t forget the fine print.  There’s always a catch.  Much like a weekend for two at a luxurious resort, all expenses paid… all you have to do is sit through the high-pressure presentation.  But, more importantly, deeds are hollow without honor.  Deeds are hollow without integrity. Deeds are hollow without loyalty.  Deeds are hollow without truth. Deeds are hollow in the arms of hypocrisy.  Religion thrives on deeds in order to compensate for its lack of truth, and then demands respect for those deeds and its ego to cover its fallacy.  Religion has no integrity, nor truth.  If it did have integrity and truth there would be evidence to prove its claims.  But, there is none.  Religion has no loyalty.   If it did, it would embrace humanity freely, without exception or expectation, demand or condemnation.  But, it does not. Religion has no honor.  There is no honor among thieves who seek to steal away human freedom, and rule those who do not ascribe to their thievery.  Their is no honor when fairness is left in the wake of bigotry.  There is no honor when there is no foundation in logic and reason.

Non-believers are constantly under attack for not “respecting” religion.  We are maligned as intolerant.  Indeed, we are intolerant.  Religion, in and of itself, is a despicable, vile, reprehensible cancer on the face of humanity.  It deserves no tolerance.  In the absence of evidence and reasoned logical thought… in the face of hard science and intellectual scrutiny, religion has stood defiantly against humanity.  It does so out of spite, malice and fear.  It champions bigotry, hatred, and racism.  Religion promotes cultural and racial superiority and dominance.  It claims a moral and ethical high ground as its foundational canon out of the same mouth that pukes the bile of its own hypocrisies.  I no more respect religion than I do the child molester, serial killer, or a megalomaniac tyrannical dictator.

Religion deserves nothing.  No respect, no free pass.  And those who claim religion as their foundation will always fear these words.  I do not respect your religion.  Period.  I no more respect your beliefs in a skydaddy than I do in anyone who believes in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or the Boogeyman.  They are all myths.   Religion is not sacred, special, or untouchable.  It is not above reproach.  Today’s religion is a fallacy, no different from all religions of the past, of the gods and goddesses that came long before the big three, and who – not incidentally – are easily disposed of by you, the believer, in favor of your monotheistic skydaddys of today.   Religion is religion.  Your “beliefs” are irrelevant, insignificant, insufficient and repulsive.  They do not deserve, nor will they ever earn, my respect.

I will continue to mount an assault on your religion, all religion.  To me, religion is the enemy of freedom.  But, not you.  No.  Not you as a person.  As a fellow human being, I will not deny you your right to believe.  That would be wrong.  Why?  Because that is telling someone what to think.  But, I will challenge you any time you try to tell me what to think.  I will challenge you to produce testable, scientific evidence.  I will meet your babble with reason and logic.  I will endeavor to put the smack-down on your ancient anachronism and show you the gaping, cavernous flaws of your dogma.   I will force you to look into the mirror and see the hypocrisy, bigotry, and hate your religion harbors, and how it is manifested in your self-righteousness.  Then, when I have finished breaking you down to the core of your humanity, I will reach out with my hand and offer you my friendship. And if you reject me, in the absence of verbal confrontation… in the absence of your civility… I will still stand by your right to believe.   I respect humanity.  I have seen civil, compassionate, empathetic, ethical, reasoned and logical humanity.  It does exist in all of us, somewhere.  It does not come from religion.  And, it is not the product of a skydaddy.  It is the product of evolution, knowledge, and hope born of ambition to progress.  I respect your human rights,  not your beliefs.  And, I will defend your human rights, and mine, at all costs.

Religion.mp3