A proselytizer

Today, in school, a Christian evangelist (actually, the correct term to use is proselytizer) approached one of my friends while I was sitting nearby. He broached the subject beginning with Christmas then slowly onto Jesus. The conversation didn't last for long though.

My friend kind of said "I believe that all gods exist but I don't worship or pray to them." Then the conversation started trailing to its end.

All the while, I sat there listening and wanting to burst out. I had the urge to interrupt and start a mini discussion. But I didn't. But I wished I did...

Millitant atheism?
No. Not exactly. I don't really give that much of a damn to "deconvert" religious "faith-heads".

Actually, I want to just hear what they think when I start introducing the evidence and arguments against the existence of god. I really am curious. I was never religious so I don't know what goes on in their minds. So I wonder. So I think.

Have they seen the arguments?
Do they really take the bible literally? Virgin giving birth? Noah's ark?
Have they read ALL of the bible?
Do they have special goggles that prevent them from seeing the absurd stuff?

In fact, I hold the opinion that most Christians (the sheep, not the shepherd) have not seen the true picture of arguments from the other side. Merely just following what they are told and limited the false information fed to them by their leaders.

The Eyes of Reason are blinded by Faith in issues relating to Faith.

About funerals

Today, on my way home from school, a train of thought lead from religion and its craps, to rituals then to funerals. Then I was reminded of my unpleasant encounter with Christianity when my great grandmother died.

My great grandmother was a sweet old lady. She enjoyed the company of her many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was also a great cook and was loved by all of us. And naturally, everyone was saddened by her death.

In Singapore, funerals are typically held in the void deck (the ground floor of our HDB high-rise flats). So was her funeral. Apparently, she converted to Christianity during the last years of her life so she (is it we?) had a Christian funeral.

On the night before her body would be sent for cremation the next day, the priest came for the ceremony. A piece of paper was handed out to all of us which had the lyrics of the songs we were supposed to sing. And after a few words from the priest (or was it the bible), we had to sing the songs.

After the second song, it became crystal clear. The songs were ALL about praising god. Nothing other than sucking up to the sky daddy.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" bolted through my mind.

What is this crap?
Why are we singing about god at my great grandmother's funeral?
Did god just die?
Am I at the wrong funeral?
This is just wrong, 'nough said.

I stopped singing along. I felt disgusted.
I think this is disrespectful.

Why the heck do we need to praise god at someone's funeral?
God needs some sucking up before he let my great grandmother to heaven?

I remembered distinctly that on the day after the cremation. When my parents, my brother and I were on the way home in a taxi. We touched on the subject of funerals. And I said "I don't ever want a Christian funeral."

This happened a few years before I identified myself as an atheist. Even then, I wasn't "into" the whole god crap.

Just a thought... something I'd remember for a long long while...

Crazy supporters

Supporters. Supporters? Supporters!?!
That was my response yesterday when I saw the article - Bali Bombers: Indonesia on alert...

It's really sad. There are supporters for those three people who were accomplices in the 2002 Bali bombings. Words cannot express how I feel.

I mean, how can anyone even THINK about supporting such people? It's like advocating to legalize murder. But of course, this is probably because religion was involved. It's not just suicide bombing. It's fighting for god. This makes things even sadder though... We have fellow human beings who kill other human beings because of imaginary entities.

What a world we live in...

Euthanasia

Euthanasia became the topic of discussion during the past week in Singapore. I think it appeared in the newspapers on at least two separate days. Maybe, I'm missing something but all I see are objections, objections and more objections. Worst of all, the church and its comments appeared. As usual, I think they look like bullshit arguments.

"Human beings do not have the right to die." so they said. So I checked up Dictionary.com and it says rights is "Something that is due to a person or governmental body by law, tradition, or nature." According to Singapore's Penal Code, attempting to commit suicide is punishable with a year's imprisonment or a fine.

Legally? No.
Traditionally? Don't think so.
Nature? Doubt so.

But euthanasia can be classified into two types. Passive and active. I only consider active euthanasia to be assisted suicide. Passive euthanasia is just pulling the plug on someone who can no longer live unassisted by life support devices (and of course, he/she must want to pull the plug).

Face it. We die anyways. So let's be a little practical, shall we? Get our heads out of fairyland and stop indulging in the "life is sacred" crap.

I am all for passive euthanasia and inclined to accept active euthanasia as well. Why?

Imagine that you have an incurable or terminal illness.
Sucks eh? But not enough to want to end your life here and now?

Perhaps you're so weak that you can hardly leave your hospital bed. Or worst, you're bedridden.
You can't even fulfill your own last wishes.
You can't reach the plug to the life support equipment.
You can't kill yourself even if you want to.

The hospital bills are piling like crazy. A few hundred here and a couple of thousands there. Honey, the hospital director is highly unlikely to say "You know what? We'll absorb the cost."

Your family members aren't exactly well off. Earning just enough to get by... and now this? But wait. Maybe financial reasons are not good enough for issues regarding the "sanctity of life."

What if your children are unfilial? Maybe your spouse wants a divorce? No relatives around? This is reality. Shit happens. Not everybody is lucky enough to have the emotional and psychological support offered by kin.

AND you know what? Now you want to die. For whatever reason there maybe. But you can't. Because somebody who is healthy, alive and kicking thinks that life is god-given and therefore you cannot, must not, should not kill yourself.

Life is sacred. Not because it has anything to do with the sky daddy in heaven. It's because it is the only chance you have before you return to non-existence. If there is nothing else for you to live for and your death can, in some way, be useful, why not?

I don't want to go into the bullshit beliefs that god exist. But I think people who refuse to allow those terminally ill people who want to end their lives from ending it are sick masochists. They prefer to have people suffer till the end of their lives because of some entity they conjured up during the Bronze Age.

Sick. And stupid.

Atheozoa

Atheozoa. I made this name up using the Greek words “atheos” meaning “godless and “zoia” meaning “animals”. So Atheozoa means “godless animals”. I made this word up because I wanted a word to represent what myself… erm… ah, forget the crap talk. I made the word because I wanted something that made at least some sense and has the alphabet “z” or “x” in it. Why? Cause’ I’m a sucker for that.

As you should have guessed by now, I am an atheist. I am also a male Chinese Singaporean. And I have great interest in Science. Though I have never quite subscribed to the whole idea of god(s), I didn’t identify myself as an atheist until early this year. I only became active with regards to this topic when I saw Youtube videos about god, religion, atheism and then… Richard Dawkins. He pwns. Heck, now I regard Richard Dawkins as my idol.

Anyways, I created this blog so that I can voice some of my opinions. Not so much for the whole damn world to see it but just to get things off my chest. While I am somewhat outspoken about my irreligiosity, my friends aren’t. So talking to them about such topics don’t interest them as much as it interest me. But hey, I didn’t make friends just so that they can hear me rant about stuff. So, here I am. I’ll rant here.

Keeping in mind that I’m in Singapore, I probably shouldn’t be too vocal about atheism and anti-theism. However, I shan't be giving religion any "special" respect. It never deserved it anyways.

Basically, I will talk about anything I feel like talking about here. Be it amusing or stupid, interesting or ridiculous, foreign or domestic politics, religious or not, it can and will be found here. And not forgetting, Science and stuff.