Follow-up post #2
(PM sent to Micahel Murphy on 1/6/02, orginally sent to Robert Jonson)
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My parents are German/Jewish immigrants whose mere presence in this country is a function of barbarism practiced against them and their families for a religion they didn't even practice. Many of my mother's family remained behind...quite literally on and in the Bavarian landscape.
By the early 1940's the world's governments and the Catholic and Protestant churches were aware of the ovens and they looked on with benign neglect at best...or with active participation more commonly.
My mother's family became orthodox Jewish upon arriving in this country but my mother would have nothing of it. The ready-made hypocrisy of religion as excuse/crutch (her words, not mine) made such an option untenable for her. Her father was a brilliant and wonderful family doctor in Brooklyn for many years but my mother always believed that the absurdist rites of the orthodoxy smothered his true healing capabilities.
The persecution of my father's family was especially ironic since, while not 'atheist' in the bombastic way I've come across, were Jewish in appellation only. In fact my great grandfather had a passage in his will that no member of a religious order was to lead or otherwise oversee his funeral as it would be the height of hypocrisy (since the 'honored dead' never had a spiritual thought in his entire life). And he was a very good man.
Everyone thinks they know who I am and what I am about.
I'm married to a woman who grew up in a Baptist household in poor/rural Oklahoma (Wilburton) and who, while not actively religious, is about as far from atheism as one could get. I have an absolutely wonderful relationship with my 70+ mother-in-law: Billie's life is centered around her church in Okmulgee, OK and I've attended services there with her on numerous occasions.
Atheism doesn't mean I'm imposing my will or belief system on anyone and I would (and have) vigorously defended the right to practice religion anywhere, anytime. Obviously.
But when it comes to expressing the right NOT to practice religion, folks in this country get incredibly defensive. I wish no one ill. I'm sorry if I've hurt yours or anyone else's feelings. My opinion is still that this entire fiasco on SI has little if anything to do with my attitude to fellow participants, the weighting of my stock or anything else exclusive of my expression of Atheism.
I don't believe in God and folks will simply need to deal with it. I think it's extremely important that we humans not believe in God but rather have 'faith' in our own self- and community-generated 'spirit', that we have sufficient confidence in ourselves and the immense creative and resourceful power invested in our very own brains to interact lovingly and virtuously with our fellow human beings. Well balanced self-confidence and self-esteem are some of the major keystones of successful interaction with the world; in my view, deferring to a 'God' rather than to one's own largely untapped resources thwarts countless opportunities for growth of the individual spirit and undermines the betterment of mankind.
You see we share many common values, just from different approaches.
And I'm really not the devil incarnate.
If, subsequent to reading this tome you remain committed to the inappropriateness of my participation on the contest thread, then we really don't share any values for fairness and equanimity whatsoever and our effort to establish a vibrant dialog need not proceed further.
Sincerely,
Ron Hellendall |
