Jewish Atheist

Capitalism is best loved by those whom it most benefits at any given time. Execs and shareholders always come first. Like any institution - religion, marriage, government — it’s no better than the people who run it. So, with people of middle-school maturity in charge, we have bubbles, inept regulation, influence peddling, Ponzi schemes, financial meltdowns, funny money (derivatives), program trading (computers superseding human intelligence), insider trading, inhumane boss-ocracy, perpetual job anxiety, people in jobs they hate, greedy executives and unions, and 24/7 marketing to keep consumers buying the latest styles and gadgets, because greed is good.

The volunteer army, with its cash incentives, was a brilliant stroke for war-loving politicians. The professionalism of militarism as a career (conveniently jibing with the complexity of modern warfare; it’s no longer just load, aim, and fire) has, as many have noted, separated the citizen population from the country’s military mercenaries. Unbridled militarism and war without end are a real possibility, especially since America doesn’t do pay-as-you-fight wars anymore – it charges them to the next generation.

The realization that religion is a mass make-believe is almost unbelievable, but there it is. Same for the reality that religious fantasies are much beloved and honored in most societies, including most certainly this one, though they are the cause of much suffering and death.

Knowing certain basic laws of physics and biology – among them that once the dead are dead, they are incapable of communicating with the living – I suspect that something not real yet very vivid is indeed happening in your head, something that feels and sounds like you are incessantly channeling Michael Jackson.

Winston Churchill advised reading books of quotes. Emerson hated quotes: “Tell me want you know.” Well, sometimes what we know can come from the benefit of other people’s observations or experience.

Any time “merriment” is mentioned on the invitation, I know it’s going to be another dreary event full of temptations to overeat or overdrink out of stupefying boredom, trying to make small talk at the top of my lungs, with frequent trips outside to escape the loud music and bad speechmaking. Hope I’m wrong.

All the good that religion does can be done without all the fantasies and delusions. All the evil that it causes results from differences in superficial, superimposed matters of doctrine and dogma. My god’s stronger than yours. My story’s the right one. Who cares? If all the resources spent in worshipping and otherwise propitiating imaginary deities were invested in improving the human condition, we would have a much better world.

Replace the pronoun with another word which is appropriate in context; recast the sentence with the plural or with I, you, or we; enough already with she and smug, self-conscious political correctness. Your pronoun usage is not a sign of your enlightenment. Be a little creative and avoid the problem.

Of all the wars that America has fought in my lifetime alone, only one – World War II – had anything to do with my freedom. Mostly they had to do with politicians’ vanity; or their need to prove their toughness by sacrificing others (if it’s so necessary, why don’t THEY go?); or America’s wish to forcibly impose its will on other countries.

The Founding Fathers didn’t get it completely right, especially as regards women and forcibly transported Blacks, slave and free. But they did focus on one shining concept that promised to improve the state of humanity on earth: liberty. Not “relentless dogmatism” (Zorn). Liberty from millennia of kings, czars, and other despots.