Imagine No Religion

I was greeted by this billboard earlier today after being bused into downtown Seattle from the 'burbs. At the risk of sounding reactionary, I was quite taken aback by the sight. My first thought was that in a country founded in part on the freedom of religion it was ironic that I would see an advertisement for a foundation that proclaims freedom from religion (is it just me or is freedom from religion not an inherent option within freedom of religion?).

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) website states that their purpose is to act as a "watchdog" for the separation of Church and State. A lifetime member of the FFRF is quoted as saying that the billboards intention is not to question any specific religion or faith but to proclaim that society can only reach its full potential through the scientific method. I would beg to differ. I infer from his words that religion (okay, not a specific religion, but religion in general? All religion?) gets in the way of progress. The FFRF website proclaims that

The history of Western civilization shows us that most social and moral progress has been brought about by persons free from religion.

Like Hitler and Stalin? Is this statement not an overt claim concerning the negativity of religion, that on a foundational level religion is mutually exclusive with what the FFRF deems as "progress"? Is the implied eradication of religion a means to this end ("progress")? Are the members of FFRF feeling threatened by the free choice of others to practice their respective religion?

I would imagine such a protest against religion is best seen in the context as a reaction against religious fundamentalism. A friend of mine has posted on this topic recently here. I can't help but wonder if the FFRF is unwittingly fostering its own brand of fundamentalism?

Perhaps this posting is an overreaction? Should I view such an organization as lending itself to the promotion of atheism and agnosticism as a viable worldview and nothing more? If the FFRF were simply promoting their worldview as viable, it would in no way threaten my own personal beliefs or even my choice to have a belief. What bothers me is not the overt language of promotion but the overt and implied disparagement of religious belief. Does this message not run counter to the "freethought" claim of the FFRF?

If the past 100 years of human history has taught us anything, it is that fascism can have an ugly, dangerous and conservative face bent toward evil masquerading in the name of "progress." I fear the direction in which our society is currently headed, our evil clown bent on progress at all costs has changed masks and tactics; he has traded in his conservative mask for a liberal one. The end result of "progress" remains but the means by which to achieve that end has changed.

I always wanted a pantry

Perhaps it is because in our current apartment the kitchen is incredibly tiny. Whatever the reason, as of Wednesday afternoon, Olivia and I will have to wait no longer; we will become the proud owners of a condo twenty minutes north of Seattle in Lynnwood.

It is a condo that looks like any other number of condos. Nevertheless, it will be our own condo and that is exciting. It also includes a pantry.

Priusville

Er . . . I mean Seattle.

My Hollywood Weekend Pt 2

While visiting my brother a few weeks back, we had a good conversation with one of his friends about Christianity and the spiritual life. This particular friend of his had been raised in the South and reared on Protestant Christianity. Both of his parents and were pastors and his family traveled around the nation together as a ministry. Now, he is married with a little girl (and a second on the way) and runs his own recording studio, which makes it difficult for him to attend church with any regularity.

As he was discussing his situation he made a statement (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that stuck in my mind: I look at my recording studio as a ministry that I have in which I can love other people. Does God really care if I go to church or not? I don't think so. What He cares about is that I love other people wherever I'm at and whatever situation I'm in.

To be sure, there's a lot that I can agree with in this statement. Nevertheless, I find it interesting that in this statement there is a dichotomy between loving others and attending church. In a sense, you could interpret my friend as saying that it is not necessary to attend church in order to better love others. Is it safe then to infer that attending church may make it more difficult to love others as well? Does that make any sense?

At any rate, I am genuinely interested in what any readers of this blog have to say about this subject (if you're interested). What do you think about this dichotomy? If it exists, how can it be resolved? What does it mean to truly love another?

Seattle gay-census underway

With yesterday being the beautiful day that it was, I decided to take a walk on my lunch break about six blocks to Irwin's to purchase a delicious iced coffee beverage. On the way there I called my wife to see how her day was going, but was interrupted when a truck that had approached me from behind (no pun intended) stopped a few feet after it had passed me on a fairly busy two-lane road. The driver yelled out to me, "Hey, are you gay?" I was startled but quickly replied, "Yes." The driver then pumped his fist in the air and yelled "Yessssss!" before speeding off. Okay.

So, if you happen to be in Seattle this weekend, be aware that two young males in a black Toyota truck are apparently conducting their own grassroots gay-census.

The long and gray winter months can be a bit too much to stomach in Seattle. The water that surrounds the city reflects what is above it, usually low and gray cloud cover which can have a claustrophobic effect as the months wear on. Seattle in the winter and spring can be a dreary place to be. However, it is weather from weeks like this past one (and hopefully continued in the forecast for the weekend) that remind me why I live in this city and in this climate. There is something spectacular about the plentiful green trees in this region backdropped by a brilliant blue sky and equally brilliant blue water which is surrounded by majestic mountains to both the east and the west.

Driving back home from Minnesota a few years ago on I-90 I took in a lot of beauty along the way. The badlands in Wyoming and South Dakota, the mountains in Montana. Still, my biased eyes felt the views were increasingly spectacular the further I headed west.

The weather/climate I experienced while living in Minnestoa was extreme: frigid winters and hot and humid summers. This was quite a change from the mild NW climate that I was accustomed to. In some ways this change in climate mirrored the life I lived in Minnesota: it was an extreme time in many ways.

Upon my return to Seattle I found that I needed to adjust to the mildness of life again -- both literally and figuratively. Not only had I grown used to a more extreme climate, on a foundational level, I had also grown used to instability on both a spiritual and relational level. Now, some of what I learned and experienced through this instability was good, but some if it was also bad.

In my upside down world a return to stability at that time seemed . . . too safe. Perhaps even dishonest. Life is complicated and hard, right? In that context, admitting there might be "answers" to my questions about God, life and other people made me uncomfortable with myself. If there were "answers" to my questions on some level, than that required that I change and reorient myself again.

Looking back now, I feel that I craved stability even if I feared it at the same time. I had equated stability with a static life that contained no growth or change. Of course, that is a potential pitfall. Still, I pray that I am growing and learning each day and continuting to hold the paradox of what I know and believe along with the infintely more that is beyond my human comprehension.

And hey, it's supposed to be in the 90s this weekend in mild 'ol Seattle. I guess even stability can have some variety perks (I apologize for the cheesy weather tie-in at the end).

My Hollywood Weekend

A few weeks back I left the dreary, hipster-loving and cynical enclave I like to call Seattle to visit my brother Bryan in West Hollywood. For a weekend, I lived the "L.A. lifestyle." We spent quite a bit of time in a recording studio tracking for a song that is going to be pitched to Keith Urban, we went out to eat for every meal, I listened to a guy my brother works with/for talk about writing a song for Lionel Ritchie's next record (he referred to him as "Lionel"), we watched an all-white reggae band with a lead singer who took his shirt off to reveal a massive Star of David necklace at the Whiskey A Go Go, and bumped into B.J. Novak. You know, the usual.

My brother is one of those people who doesn't seem too concerned with living life by the unspoken "rules." He says he's going to do something semi-ridiculous (at least to a "realist" like me) and then he usually does it. By the end of the weekend I felt like saying, You know, at 29 you aren't supposed to be an Executive VP of a company (Neoganda -- he's explained to me what they do but I still don't get it) and have a loft in the Hollywood Hills facing the Hollywood sign. Maybe he makes a ton of money or is in debt up to his eyeballs. Probably both. Nevertheless, I find his inner-drive inspiring and I'm proud of him.

One morning my brother woke me up and pointed down to the valley below. From my vantage point on the floor next to his bed I could see a massive plume of smoke rising from the giant Universal Studios complex. With a smile my brother said, "there's a fire at Universal Studios." I don't know if it was that I wasn't fully awake or the way that my brother said it, but I dismissed the fire as a film shoot for a movie, rolled over and went back to sleep. My brother woke me up again an hour later and showed me the current front-page story at CNN.com of the fire, which apparently was not the result of a film shoot but an out of control fire that was engulfing Universal Studios. The picture on the front page looked like it could have been taken from my brother's deck. Weird.

Another fun part of the trip for me was visiting the virtual vinyl-wonderland of Amoeba Records. The place is massive and disorienting but also includes the largest collection of new vinyl records that I have ever seen. It gave me the opportunity to get started on my annual Top 08 of 08, which I had begun to fear would be incomplete as we are now almost half-way through the year and I had not yet found any new music that had struck my fancy enough for me to recommend it to others. That all changed at Amoeba Records as I purchased Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest, Lie Down in the Light. Stay tuned at the end of the year for a review if you wish.

To wet your appetite, I will close with a video parodying Kanye West's song, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" in which Bonnie "Prince" Billy participated (he's the skinny guy in the video). If you are familiar with his music, it makes a funny video that much funnier.