{"id":4002,"date":"2010-12-30T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T09:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/why-the-huffpost-helped-me-start-this-blog.html"},"modified":"2010-12-30T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T09:26:00","slug":"why-the-huffpost-helped-me-start-this-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/why-the-huffpost-helped-me-start-this-blog.html","title":{"rendered":"Why the Huffpost helped me start this blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the things that led to this blog was the Huffington Post.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Because I got tired of having my comments censored.\u00a0 Though I may be a bit caustic at times, I try never to be mean or hateful.\u00a0 I try to call a spade a spade, but that\u2019s it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t try to promote hate, violence, or cheer the suffering of others.\u00a0\u00a0 I may point out ironies in some folks\u2019 worries or difficulties, if those folks have been a cause of problems for other people, or the world at large.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not out calling for death, destruction, and spewing hate toward folks, as I hope this blog demonstrates.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, despite the fact that people who wish to vomit no end of hatred and contempt and bigotry against things like America, Christianity, the Catholic Church, and generally anyone on the right, have no problem getting their comments posted (it chills my blood to think what kind of comments aren\u2019t allowed given those that are), I had troubles posting sometimes very basic, nuts and bolts comments.\u00a0 Take this little exchange<\/a> on the one article that mentioned problems for Iraqi Christians. \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Someone had posted a sort of \u2018wouldn\u2019t the world be better without all that religion stuff\u2019 comment.\u00a0 I gently pointed out that folks are quite capable of doing evil with or without religion.\u00a0 The individual responded I was kind of right, and wished me some pluralistic \u2018enjoy your own version of the holidays\u2019.\u00a0 Fine, I wished them the same.\u00a0 Then one of the Huffpost moderators chimed in with this:<\/p>\n

\u201cYour discussion of 20th century practices fits exactly within the parameters of religion as tribal control and power structure. King Henry VIII probably would have been an atheist leader if the culture at the time would have allowed it.<\/p>\n

Religion is competitio\u00adn for the complete power that any dictator wants to have. Bloody Mary is a perfect example of using religion for power; wanting the church\u2019s political support. <\/p>\n

Until the 20th century leaders knew that being descended from or blessed by god was the proper way to command the populace easily. As humanity began to move away from unquestion\u00aded belief in a deity the need for divine endorsemen\u00adt became obsolete as a requiremen\u00adt.<\/p>\n

I personally believe that religion has done more harm than good. We will not know the fullness of the atrocities not only direct but indirect until we have evolved socially away from handing our personal responsibi\u00adlity to some man made deity.<\/p>\n

Once we have to tak responsibi\u00adlity for our own behavior and have to stop saying \u201cGOD says this is HIS will!\u201d we will grow as a race. Perhaps these power plays will be recognized for what they are and we can move toward peace as a race.<\/p>\n

I enjoy the good feelings and care that people and families show toward each other at this time of year. I fervently hope that as we grow into our humanity we will be able to behave well year round and not have to be reminded by a \u2018god.\u2019\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The typical talking points for those who conform to modern secular thought.\u00a0 Nothing new.\u00a0 Nothing horribly mean or anything.\u00a0 Capped off with the usual \u2018I don\u2019t need religion to be good, even though my version of good happens to coincidentally coincide with the religious tradition of my culture.\u2019<\/p>\n

So I responded with an answer that basically reminded the individual that anyone living after the 20th century should know that removing religion from the formula does not ensure peace on earth.\u00a0 In fact, I pointed out some could argue that religion has been a moderating influence on humanity\u2019s tendency to do evil.\u00a0 After all, once religion was out of the way, the secular philosophies and ideologies that drove the last century were able to cause more deaths in a single century than the 2000 year history of the Christian faith. I also threw in a bit about the complex causes of evil,\u00a0that they often had more to do with good old fashion greed, lust, power and such rather than the absence or presence of religion.<\/p>\n

I ended it with some polite nods to the fact that the moderator\u2019s comment wasn\u2019t mean or hostile, I acknowledged that religion certainly has it\u2019s bad spots throughout history, and that people will do bad no matter what.\u00a0 I wish the individual a happy holidays. <\/p>\n

And BAM!\u00a0 Pulled from the post.\u00a0 WTH!\u00a0 Why would a response\u00a0pointing to a few stats and facts to support my claim that religion is not the sole cause of evil be pulled?\u00a0 I often had that point pulled.\u00a0 Or when I tried to point out the flaws in the notion of \u2018Safe Sex\u2019, or point to the fact that men, when all things are equal, will generally prefer not to wear a condom.\u00a0 Censored every time.\u00a0 No matter how nice, friendly, kind, and in keeping with the Huffpost standards I was, there were certain things that the censors simply would not allow. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s about right.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve said, it\u2019s not hard to see many on the Left itching to put an end to this whole liberty and freedom stuff.\u00a0 But I got tired of it happening so flagrantly.\u00a0 Especially when comments that spewed hatred and loathing and contempt for those things the Huffpost hates were allowed.\u00a0 Censorship may be all the rage in some segments of the post-moder left, but I decided I didn\u2019t have to hang around and let it keep me from writing what I wanted to write.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 The comment that does show up was my second attempt.\u00a0 Sometimes at varying intervals, comments can be posted without editorial reviews.\u00a0 That one made it straight to the post.\u00a0 Unfortunately my original post was not saved, and therefore I didn\u2019t have it available.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that led to this blog was the Huffington Post.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Because I got tired of having my comments censored.\u00a0 Though I may be a bit caustic at times, I try never to be mean or hateful.\u00a0 I try to call a spade a spade, but that\u2019s it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t try to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy the Huffpost helped me start this blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the things that led to this blog was the Huffington Post.  How?  Because I got tired of having my comments censored.  Though I may\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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