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I read an OLD article that sickened me just now, despite it’s age. The freedom of religion also applies to freedom from religion. The Burke family of Newark was ordered to return a seventeen month old baby they adopted because they are atheists. This obviously got tossed out in a higher court but here’s what generally happened.

The Burke family was ordered by a judge to return the baby they adopted because the state of New Jersey’s constitution states, “no person shall be deprived of the inestimable privilege of worshiping Almighty God in a manner agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience” Now the fact that the Burke parents don’t believe in an Almighty God would apparently preclude the baby from growing up and having the opportunity to worship an almighty God. Hence, their adoption was not legal in the eyes of judge Camarata .

Thomas Jefferson, one of the chief architects of the US constitution once stated, “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Possibly even more eloquently and appropriate to this conversation Jefferson also stated, “No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”

The US Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

I’m no lawyer, but the judge in this case was a jackoff. The government cannot require religion for their services. Should firefighters only respond to calls from Catholics in Boston? Should police in the southern states only help people who are Baptists? Obviously, the answer is no, as both of those cases are ludicrous. Neither should a judge require religion from potential parents.

Now, just to be clear I tread the line between atheism and my own form of belief in my own vision of a supreme being. I tend to feel a presence when I’m in the mountains, when I’m low on oxygen and high on life. When I’m back in the world, watching news about babies thrown off bridges, sexual predators, and suicide bombers I tend to forget about that presence.

What I cannot stomach is the self-righteous world of most churches. The ivory towered perspective and dialog of a population dominated by charlatans and hypocrites. I do not shun God in any way, I reject the small minded philosophies of small minded religious sects stating that it’s either their specific way to God or nothing.

The mountains are my cathedrals, the trees are my pews, the canyons are my sanctuaries and the open skies are my stained glass visages of God. The wind, thunder, snow, rain and silence of the deep lonely woods are my conversations with God. My heavy footfalls are my hymns and each exhalation is an entreaty to my God.

Here is a link to the article that started this all off. It is from 1970, but still blood boiling.

If you ever want to know how to be a father, just watch this. Prepare to cry though.

Yesterday, as I was farting around in the garage I saw a car go cruising by on the street just outside at a pretty good speed, much faster than cars usually travel right there. Driving was some young kid, probably a brand new license and mommy’s BMW, OC (Orange County) kids make me sick.
That brought me to thinking about what a sterile, non-community area all of OC that I have seen is. I remember growing up in a small town was the Barret’s across the street, the Rockaforte’s down the way, the weird family that always gave out acorns for Halloween, they didn’t get too much traffic after we realized that’s what they gave out every year. There was the old couple with the dog that had two differently colored eyes, there was the dirty area of the neighborhood down at the end of the court, and across the street on the other side was an italian family that must have had a huge house, because there were a ton of people living there from what I remember. Then there was the Park’s place, and around the way the Zapien’s, Muscato’s, that one guy who stole my 1st pair of Oakley’s (though I could never prove it) and everyone else I’m forgetting, like Claude way over there by where Sita’s house was.
There was a sense of community there though, everyone knew everyone else, all the dirty laundry was aired right out in front and everyone else saw it. The local kids couldn’t scream down the street without their parents hearing about it by the end of the day, you couldn’t sneak in and out of the house after dark without someone seeing you and the parents finding out and you were pretty much forced to behave. The downtown area was no exception to this rule either, neither was Tennant station or anything else in town.
That’s not how it is down here though. There are punks everywhere. If/when I ever have kids (besides Doug Finch) I’m going to do my damndest to raise them in a small town, I think cities and metropolitan areas are just too damn big to raise a kid.
Not that I’m saying everyone who grows up in a city is an idiot and everyone who’s raised in the country is Jesus come back to Earth, but it seems like the %’s are better for kids when they’re raised in smaller communities, that have a sense of community. A sense of duty to the people who are raising you, the people in the town and the town itself. The scale of people is easier to grasp, you can see that stealing from the 7-11 hurts the couple that run it that live over on DeWitt, and that old guy who collects cans all day every day shouldn’t be hassled because you’ve known him your whole life and you’ll see him every day after this too. Bleh, enough babbling for me. I’m proof enough that shitheads do come out of small towns too so I don’t really know what I’m trying to say here.