An ABCNews poll has found that 61% of Americans believe the Biblical explanation of how humans came to be on Earth.


"Intelligent design" - A Dover, Pennsylvania school district is the first in the nation to mandate teaching students about "intelligent design," which says that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a supreme being.

The district's science teachers all refused to read the new text, disgusted. (No word on their employment status at this time.) Critics are saying that this is a way to sneak the Biblical Creation explanation into the 9th grade biology cirriculum, circumventing all Federal laws of separation of church and state. This district is in a small, mid-state rural farm area 20 miles south of Harrisburg. As you've already guessed, there people who believe that the evangelical Christian way is the only way, and those who don't agree can fuck off. The school board apparently agrees, because the vote was 6-3 for "Intelligent Design". 2 of those who voted against it resigned soon after.

When I was in 9th grade I had a social studies teacher who traveled the world studying religions. By the time I was in 10th grade, she had earned her PhD in Eastern Religion. Her specialty was the religions of India. Listening to her explain them in detail, her fascination with them was evident from a cultural and historical standpoint, and she never tried to convert any of us to Hindu, Bhuddism, or any of the other religions. To the best of my memory, she displayed no bias during the lectures. Only information. She always said "Hindus believe that..." keeping her own views out of it. The Constitution separates church and state, so she was just following the rules. I don't even know what religion, if any, she followed.

Looking back, I believe she was an unusual case compared to most teachers. Is it even possible anymore to find a teacher or professor who doesn't have an opinion for or against a hot botton issue like religion? (I understand the fact that in college, the debate over the topic makes the class.) Is it possible to find someone who can teach a class on religion, in junior high or high school, that just presents the historical facts about the major and even minor world religions without getting into why they may or may not respect or understand a particular doctrine? Why keep us in the dark about the rest of the world? For most of them, their political and social culture is wrapped around their religions - if we don't understand that, we don't understand them, and that's one of our biggest problems right now. If you don't believe me, just watch Spurious George's (better known to you as Dubya) lips move...

Sometimes it helps to think out a new entry ahead of time so I don't ramble. But sometimes I end up pre-editing my thoughts so they don't offend. But not today. I want to blog about people who are raised in so-called 'sheltered' homes, protected from the evils of the world, never talked to about the realities of life because they're taught that things are either good or bad - no grey area, no room for the 6 billion unique personalities in this world that color every unique circumstance and decision.

What of these who grow up to walk on the peripherals of life, not getting deeply involved with other people and their situations? You think it makes your life easier to avoid the emotions of others because you don't have to deal with your own. "You can't run away from feeling an emotion." It'll come back to haunt you later in some way. It'll make you seem like a robot. It isolates you from others standing right next to you.

I know many who put their emotions into the safest outlet, a person or entity that cannot interact with them in a personal way. I'm specifically talking of people who marry themselves to a religious deity, perfect in every way, and then proceed to judge the rest of us by these impossible standards, which (they think) makes them perfect by association and thought process.

And when we screw up, what is it that makes them think that we all must live and die by every decision? That all decisions are non-negociable, irretractable and mortally final? Why, once we've made a mistake, must we beat ourselves up about it by not correcting it or undoing it? What good comes of carrying the burden for the rest of our lives? Is there a big spiritual kudo waiting for us on the other side for being (or portraying ourselves) as a martyr of every mistake we choose to wallow in?

I know 3 people like this or close to it. Compared to everything I'm going through, their lives are more complicated than mine because they have to tip toe around everyone, and walk a very high, very tense tightrope so as to not disturb the person and/or deity they are afraid of upsetting or disappointing. That's a cocoon I lived in for years and I outgrew it, like a normal person does. I heard on the news yesterday that a teenager killed himself because his relationship with fictional, online, fantasy-role-playing character didn't work out. Talk about a loss of perspective. I wonder what will happen to these perfect people know when they are disappointed by the person or thing they idolize.


The Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he
sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force
its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any
progress.

It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no
farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of
scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small,
shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he
expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able
to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In
fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a
swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the
restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get
through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of
the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it
achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what
we need in our life.

If we went through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

(author unknown)