On religion ...

Another one grabbed from Facebook :

Of all the door to door people who come knocking, it's the religion ones that I'm most wary of. The only one who's come close lately has been the Anglian windows bloke who I thought would try and force his way in.

The religion ones are the worst of the lot though. I have nothing against people who live with religion close to their hearts, it's the evangelists who I don't have the respect for. The people who will drag a child with them when they go doorstep to doorstep, with that child being a moderator for any offensiveness that might be justified by preventing a stranger from forcing their way into your home.

And that's what it feels like with the doorstep religion people, they expect that you will invite them into your home and often don't bother waiting for an answer. Cue slamming of door in faces.

But that's just style. I had a similar reaction to the Anglian windows person who :
Didn't show any personal ID
Only identification was an "Anglian" on his fleece top
Was bordering offensive in his efforts to get me to talk to him.

Yep - I'm paranoid about the doorstep sellers and will only let them in if they're as sexy as the Npower girl who convinced me to change away from British Gash, which is something I had planned to do shortly anyway. (Customer disservice again)

Before I go into the next lot which I suspect may upset a few religious people, I have every respect for what people believe in. It's your answer and your interpretation to fundamental questions. And I have no right to question those beliefs. Organised religion, however, is fair game - muahaha :-)

I have a kind of religion but it's a personal one. I think there's gremlins, spooks, ghosts, supernatural wibblies out there who like to toy with us. Use a computer for a while, you'll know what I mean. Strange things happen that defy the logic these things are supposed to run on.

I also believe heavily in karma, do good things for others and they'll remember when you need the favour returned.. And that stands me in good stead at work, where I get more responsiveness out of our contractors than some of my colleagues do. I think that's partly the contractors knowing that I don't ask them to do stuff which would be a waste of effort. I'll also work through the problems and "how do we do this ???" to the benefit of everyone. Lol, I'm usually asking them to do stuff they know they should be doing anyway but without bashing them over the head with a reminder of that.

So that's the "do unto others" tenet that the Christians like to think they follow. (Look up history, the Christian mob ethic has been consistently "do unto others before they do unto you"). Don't get me wrong, it's a fine belief system for individuals, it just goes badly wrong when it gets organised.

I have to admit being soured on Christianity by what I experienced in primary school over in Northern Ireland. I went to a Quaker school which was heavily populated by Protestant kids with the occasional Catholic. The playground could literally be a battlefield. It was also during the time when the Troubles were still active, when the Peace Process was not quite started up. As an 8 year old, I was confused : "You follow the same god right, why are you fighting ?". I found it nonsensical and didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Oh, there was also the ganging up on the English boy too :-) Everyone gets bullied for being different but our differences are what make us strong. I was also known as the Milky Bar Kid at that Irish school.

Yep - my pre-teen mind was so confused by the Protestant vs Catholic thing that it went its own way and sought its own interpretation. My own code of ethics borrow heavily from what I learned early on but a strong ethic of "Be Good To People" should be the core of everyone's ethics, religion should not have anything to do with that.

In terms of meaning though ... My superstition makes me think there's a supreme being type entity out there. But not the capricious gods of most major religions. They're more concerned about their worshippers legging it for someone less cruel than they are concerned for the welfare of those worshippers. (Yes greek gods, I mean you!).

So what do I believe in ? I believe in Luck. Fate. Destiny. It's why I have my superstitions that guard against tempting fate. You can go some way to making your own luck. Don't walk under ladders that are unstable and have things perched on top. Take precautions when working on that ladder.

Why luck ? Most religions are centred around the question "Why Am I Here?" and answer that question with something that keeps control of their flock. I prefer the scientific element inherent in the sheer luck involved in us being here.

Astronomic chances of a life bearing planet in a life supporting solar system
Having a moon that causes tides that generate our climate
Sheer random chance of those first amino acids getting together
Enough radiation to spark random evolutionary mutation
Random evolution making creatures as smart as we are
Incalculable chances of the chromosomes that made me ME coming together

The mind boggles at the staggering amount of luck that makes us US. And it is sheer luck that makes us what we are. When you look at it, luck makes a lot of sense too as a Creator. Bad luck comes along with Good luck. Believers in a perfect supreme being (Christians) have no explanation for the innocents inflicted with Bad Stuff. A perfect being can make no flaws in their design. We all know how many flaws are in this world and a bare fraction of those are punishments for evildoers. Nothing in this world is perfect (although someone I know comes close!) which puts the kybosh on "God made us in his own image". Ok, that makes their god flawed and imperfect too and in no way befitting the tag assigned to them.

No. I prefer to believe in Luck, as I know how fickle luck can be. Luck will also respect it when you put the effort in to improve your chances.

And I'm now starting to run out of things to add to the Wall Of Text without repeating myself. Questions and last thoughts :

Always ask : does this belief make sense ?
Trust in your own choices
Have respect for the choices of others, particularly what they believe in
Treat others how you would expect to be treated in return
Being nice leads to cookies and chocolate
And a hug feels better than a sermon

Very last thought - would I get married in a church ? If it mattered to my partner, definitely. That's part of having the respect for the beliefs of others. My feet might feel a little toasty but it's her day as well as mine. Oh to find someone though both interested and interesting. I do know someone who more than fits the "interesting" part, she's smart, sexy, full of life, has a good soul and most important, can keep up with my brain which works in its mysterious ways. But "interested" ? she's got other stuff going on that's got her full attention. There I go again with chasing the unattainable !