Monday, February 8, 2010

the pot calling the kettle...and all that

a friend of mine...or maybe she's an acquaintance-kind of one of those blurry-lined relationships...is an atheist. not really a stand on a soapbox & shout kind of atheist so far as i knew. she was a regular at the homeschool group before it changed hands-and the group was undoubtedly christian. her facebook profile does state that she is an atheist. and her groups joined-which show up on my page-reflect her beliefs (would we say lack thereof?). i don't pay it much attention for the most part. we aren't close enough for it ever to be a real conversation.

but then today. oh today. her group of the day was the "ban religious child grooming" group. go ahead. search it. i'll wait. i wouldn't recommend reading the entire description. it's more than likely your eyeballs would fall out from the disparaging comments towards the Bible and God.

the stated purpose of the group is to ban the practice of teaching YOUR children about YOUR religion. because apparently to this group of people, that comprises religious grooming. and that should be obliterated at all costs.

and here is where i'm confused. if this group's purpose-as if there were any hope of achieving more than sparking blog posts-is to ban religious child grooming, then what do they consider what they are doing? their children will not be raised in a vacuum, i'm sure.

**WARNING-huge generalization ahead**


as it has been my experience that many times people who trumpet their lack of religiousness pride themselves on NOT sheltering their childrens' eyes, minds, and spirits from much of anything, then i think it should go against that philosophy to shield their children from *gasp* Godly religion...in the interests of open-mindedness and all that. i say should because i think that they are sheltered from Godly religion out of a very real fear (on the parts of the parents) that their children might actually find something valuable and worthwhile in something that figuratively scares the pants off of said parents. however, by enforcing the teaching of several things-evolution, lack of a Creator, absolute demise of the soul when the body itself dies-or absolute lack of soul to begin with-are they not grooming their own children? and if so, how is this any different or less damaging than the grooming preceded by that magic word "religious"? is it not the consummate opposite and, by being that polar opposite, THE EXACT SAME THING?

am i really misunderstanding this? or, like so many other people desperately struggling against admitting the truth of our Creation and existence, are these people grasping at straws? do they really think that by worming their way further into other people's children's upbringing, that this will take the focus off of their lack of hope for a future? or is this along the same lines as evolution-any port in a storm in order to avoid the absolute truth that it is easier to run away from than face?

oh, and P.S.?
"Group polluters and religious saboteurs will be removed and blocked."
appears they aren't up for any form of debate. guess it's hard to defend a stance when there is no leg to stand on.