Take Back Your Freedom…

When religious fundamentalists of any kind rule -

Books of fiction replace books of history.

Ignorance replaces intelligence.

Indoctrination is education. 

Doctrine denies science.

Faith replaces reason.

Evil is good.

Lies are truth.

Fiction becomes fact.

Patient suffering replaces courageous overcoming. 

Poverty is wealth.

Fasting replaces feasting.

Wasting away is wellness.

Weakness is strength. 

Heaven betters Earth.

Prayer replaces work.

Passivity replaces action.

Disparaged are bodies.

Impoverished are spirits.

Misery trumps pleasure. 

Virginity, celibacy, monasticism, and solitude top sex,    marriage, birth, parenting, and family.

Transcendence supersedes transformation.

Death is called God’s paradise.

The Devil is The One True God.

Slavery is freedom.

Darkness, called light, overshadows us all until we rekindle our flame and outshine the alien darkness with our own indigenous light.

Then we take back our freedom.

Believe in God, be Religious, if You Want

Believe in one or more gods or goddesses if you want. I do.

Be religious if you want. If you do or don’t participate in a corporate religious institution, that’s up to you. I don’t.

Believe the teachings and practices of one traditional religion or pick and choose this and that from different religions and make up your own personal religion. Do what you want. Your religion doesn’t matter to me.

What matters to me is what you and I actually do. I care about how we live this life where we're living now.

I care about how you and I treat ourselves and others.

Do your words and deeds affirm or deny your own life and the lives of all others living?

Do you promote or deny your own freedom to live as you choose and the freedom of others to do the same?

Do you respect or disparage others whose beliefs and deeds differ with yours?

Do you seek to convert others to your beliefs and practices rather than protect their freedom?

Do you harm or take good care of yourself and others?

Do you support yourself and those in your care or burden others?

Do you help others unable to help themselves?

Do you take advantage of the sick, injured, young, or elderly for your own personal gain?

I care about how I live my life. I also care about how you live yours.

Not what you think or believe, but what you actually do, the life you live, matters to me.