Don't get me started...

..oh wait, there I go.

So my dad forwards this thing on to me the other day. He now seems to be on this "I've never said a word about religion during my childrens' whole lives, and now my daughter's an atheist so I have to convince her otherwise" thing. Which is kind of interesting. But he's very passive-aggressive about it - twice he's sent me emails and once he said something to Alex.

Anyway, he sent this to me. I've only excerpted here, because the rest of it isn't really relevant. Forgive the typos, they aren't mine and I don't feel like editing.

"The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... Terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'"

Now, by no means am I trying to pick on anyone of any faith. I recognize that faith is a very personal and important thing to many people. The thing that pisses me off is that, once again, people REFUSE to put blame where blame deserves to be placed: at the feet of people and their OWN ACTIONS. Or, in the case of the hurricanes - WEATHER PATTERNS. 'Cause, you know, there have NEVER EVER been hurricanes in Florida. Or Texas. Or Louisiana. EVER. The terrorist attacks? Not the fault of a group of religious fanatics who believe that we are the enemy - they're the result of Americans asking God to get out of our lives.

Oh, and the Madeleine Murray O'Hare thing? I love how in parentheses it mentions that she was murdered. Because she DIDN'T WANT PRAYER in our schools! She was murdered! Because she turned her back on God! Oh, and the whole Dr. Spock thing - his son committed suicide! What irony! And it TOTALLY had everything to do with his father not spanking him! (I have no idea why that happened, I just find it interesting how this particular email paints it that way.) Oh, and yeah, because I don't teach the Bible in my classroom, I'm telling kids they should kill and steal and hate their neighbors. Right.

The thing I DO agree with is the "you reap what you sow" comment. I don't think it has ANYTHING to do with God, but I do believe it has to do with personal responsibility. You don't want to lose your Airstream to a hurricane? Don't live on the Gulf Coast!

Ugh. You know what? Believe whatever you want to. More power to you. But don't you dare tell me bad things happen in this world because we turned our backs on God. Bad things happen in this world because life is not BLACK AND WHITE. There will always be people doing bad things to other people. There will always be natural disasters causing damage and people to lose lives and homes. Even if you get the entire world to believe in one particular religion or god, you still won't be able to control the thoughts and actions of all those people, and therefore, there will STILL BE BAD THINGS HAPPENING. And even if you get every single person in the world to believe in one god, one religion, one day a tsunami will still take out half of an island nation DESPITE WHAT THEY BELIEVE.

Gah! OK, I'm off to go play a game with my son, because I don't want him to become a trenchcoat-wearing murderer. I might throw in a spanking or two, just to keep him in line.

Double GAH!