December 02, 2011

Just because it's that time of year

I found this site on Facebook and rather than stir up unnecessary nonsense over there, I thought I would post here. I find it heartwarming, yes dammit, heartwarming that the best blog post I've read in a while comes from a Pastor. My small atheist heart might just grow three sizes today.

Fat Pastor Happy Holidays

Posted by michelle at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2011

Too quick to hit post

No, Pepsi is not mounting a War!On!Christians! Ack, I hate when people repost anything on Facebook. "If you have a sister who is wonderful post this as your status" "If you're dog has ever licked himself repost as quick as you can" And ok, I get it, some people have fun with it. Fine. Freedom of speech Facebook.

But riling up the crazies with false information makes me crazy. So here ya go...here's the latest:

Don't buy the patriotic PEPSI CAN coming out with pictures of the empire state building. and the pledge of allegiance on them. Pepsi LEFT OUT Two little WORDS on the pledge "UNDER GOD" Pepsi said they did not want to offend any one. so if we don't buy them they wont be offended when they don't receive our money!!!!! that has the...words "...... ...In God we trust" on it!!! ...... how fast can you re post this??

Thing is that it is just a version of an email that went around years ago and it is blatantly not true. In 2001, Dr Pepper put a picture of the Statue of Liberty on their cans with the words "One Nation...Indivisible" over it. No pledge. No omissions. That was it. It was meant as a sign of solidarity after 9/11. But jump around and scream and pretend that we are attacking your religious rights while you attack the first amendment.

Oh, and please look up your history:
The Pledge was originally written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. The original pledge read, "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In 1923 and 1924 the National Flag Conference, under the 'leadership of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, changed the Pledge's words, 'my Flag,' to 'the Flag of the United States of America.' Bellamy disliked this change, but his protest was ignored.
It wasn't until 1954, after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus, that the words "under god" were added. It was added to separate us from godless communists. There are some interesting bits of information here regarding the history of the pledge.

When I say it, on the few occasions that I do, I leave out the words under god. They make me uncomfortable at the very least and while I don't protest or ask others to do the same, I at least think a little bit of history would go a long way. I am not waging a War!On!Christians! In fact, they waged the war. But it was recent and not a battle fought by the Founding Fathers. Check the dates. Have a look.

ETA: One of the comments on that post was "What America lets people get away with is disgusting!"

um, like freedom of speech? Yeah, let's squash that shit right now before god gets angry.

Posted by michelle at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)