Of secularity and belief

Bonsoir mes chês lecteurs! Every country seems to have a party that favors the participation of religion in politics, or at least the creation of laws that enforce religious "values". In the US it's the Republican Party, here in Mexico it's the National Action Party (hereafter referred to as PAN). The PAN originally was a center party that was ready to favor either left or right policies, if those were to favor the country and its people, but it became a highly conservative, right-wing, "christian democratic" party (I cringe whenever I hear christian and democracy together). PAN has opposed same-sex civil unions, legalization of abortion, day-after pills (One member of the party went so far as to call them "weapons of mass destruction"). Fortunately, Mexico, with all its wrongs and flaws, has very strict Church-State separation laws. One example of this in action was seen during the campaign of Vicente Fox Quesada (President, 2000, 2006) when he used the standard of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a symbol of run for presidency. His effort was quickly stopped and he was given a fine of about 2'000 dollars (a mere slap in the wrist, but a powerful message none the less). Still, the battle is far from over. Catholic priests and bishops have the bad habit of meddling in politics (Exempli Gratia: The church threatening to excommunicate politicians who voted in favor of legalizing abortion here in MX City), particularly the big bad wolf Norberto Rivera.

Fortunately for us atheists, we are not even remotely as hated or discriminated here as in the US, so hopefully we'll one day have an atheist president.

The current president is a member of PAN. Luckily enough he is kept from being too harmful because PAN does not have majority in congress. Some of the less rational of their policies in states governed by PAN are forbidding the use of miniskirts by public employees and outlawing the use of profanity in public marketplaces (Guadalajara and Queretaro).

The sad truth is there is not a "Best Choice" in politics here, rather a less harmful one. Oh well, I'm sure you all know how that feels.

Rêves Doux

Of atheism and blogrolling

Bonsoir, mes chês lecteurs. Comment ça va? As you may see to your right, I joined the atheist blogroll, grouping blogs with a common theme and/or recurring topic: Atheism (Yeah, overdramatic, and that much was obvious by the name). So, do take a look at the various blogs in the roll, I'm certain you will find many things of interest!

Rêves Doux!

De salvajismo e intolerancia

Como pocas veces, me he sentido indignado con una noticia reciente. Es ya del conocimiento público el incidente que transcurrió en la Plaza de Armas de Querétaro, asi que no hay necesidad de elaborar sobre el tema. Mas información aquí, aquí y acá.

Estas personas decidieron agredir a los emos por ser diferentes. No muy distinto de, digamos, la inquisición española. Les pareció qe los emos no tienen lugar, por su forma de pensar y vestirse, en Querétaro y decidieron atacarlos. ¿Porqué diablos tienen que caer en eso? ¿Qué demonios importa si se ven feos o chillan mucho? Los emos tienen todo el derecho del mundo de ser emos, tanto como yo tengo de ser gótico, y tanto como los imbéciles que los atacaron tienen de ser unos abyectos imbéciles. Pero de lo que no tienen derecho es de agredir a otros por sus diferencias. ¿Cómo carajos pueden hablar de respeto a la plaza cuando ellos no supieron respetar la diversidad que ahí había? No es muy grande la distancia entre un acto de agresión coordinada como este y un odio generalizado que por lo general acaba con la muerte de mas de uno. Ningún ser humano que se llame racional puede aceptar un acto barbárico como este.

Además, basta con leer algunos de los sitios anti-emo para darse cuenta, no solo de la escasa educación de quienes los sostienen, sino del tono de odio insensato que manejan. Esa clase de odio ya lo he visto, en grupos Anti-semitas, Anti-ateos, Homofóbicos...

Para recibir respeto hay que darlo. Esas personas, a las que agredieron, son seres humanos y merecen el mismo respeto que todos los demas, independientemente de sus gustos personales.

Otras opiniones en Firenation y en el blog de Gh0stface.

Of religion and morality (or lack thereof)

Bonsoir, mes chês lecteurs! Comment ça va. I read an inspiring piece of news and decided to comment on it (link is further down), enjoy.

I've read time and again of christians labeling us atheists as immoral, citing the supposed need for religion in order to be a good citizen (which is utter bollocks, mind you). Funny how they abstain from commenting on one of their own endorsing acts which are widely seen not only as immoral, but also as atrocious. In case you are expecting an example, I have one right here:

Bush vetoed a law that would prohibit waterboarding interrogation in the CIA.

Now, you may be asking yourselves, what the bloody hell is waterboarding?

Wikipedia defines waterboarding as follows:

Waterboarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on their back with the head inclined downward (the Trendelenburg position), and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning and is made to believe that death is imminent. In contrast to merely submerging the head face-forward, waterboarding almost immediately elicits the gag reflex. Although waterboarding does not always cause lasting physical damage, it carries the risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries (including broken bones) due to struggling against restraints, and even death. The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last for years after the procedure.

You can read the complete Wikipedia entry here.

Just so you know, waterboarding was a technique used by the Spanish inquisition.

So, Bush wants the CIA to keep on performing "Autos de Fe" on suspected terrorists, how lovingly benevolent and humane of him...

Now, president Bush is a devout christian, he himself has stated that. Furthermore, he even stated that he, as a christian, did not believe atheists could be good citizens. Yet he wants to keep the CIA torturing people as they see fit. That says quite a bit about christian morality, don't you think, mes chers lecteurs?

Rêves doux.

Of failed concerts, weapon injuries and overall good days.

So, mes chês lecteurs, I've been gone for a while, but I'm back and posting.

If you are wondering about the title, it refers to the Mandragora's Fest, which was a mini-treffen attempt here in Mexico City. The concept was nice, and the event itself was not so bad. There were many medieval attractions (I actually hurt my hand with and arrow, a huge splinter stuck in my finger whilst I was shooting it) quite a few gothic and medieval stands and good fun. Joculatore Domini deserves a special mention, as they not only knew their instruments but also had the charisma to make quite a great show. Oh, there was also an "Arabian House", with bellydancers and hukkas (water smoking-pipes). Overall it was a nice day. I got my rear end handed over to me by my dear lady in sword combat, but took my revenge in what we call cotton swab combat (The combatants are placed with little space to move or maneuver armed with staffs that have big stuffy ends. They must then attempt to knock the other opponent off his or her place).

But it was far from perfect. It was unorganized, and the stands were scattered all over the place like an mp3 on a FAT32 partition. And it was not a small place, mind you. Security at the entrance was adamant about removing any metal spikes, and everyone complied only to find out that they were selling spikes, swords, maces and daggers inside.

And then things took a turn for the worst.

The local bands played, and after that there was an hour long wait before Clan of Xymox climbed on the stage.

So, Xymox, plays and everyone is hopping happy, until the manager of Atrocity asked them not to go through the whole repertoire because they had a plane to catch at 6 am (it was about 1 am at this point). Xymox tells him to go to hell, he pulls their plug. Then As it was Atrocity and Leave's Eyes turn to perform, the generator went out and stayed out for quite a while. When it came back, the surge disabled Atrocity's equipment and they couldn't play. They tried to save the situation by singing acapella, but the crowd was somewhat aggressive and they got insulted off the stage. After that, they told us that To/Die/For would be playing later. We went to a nearby bonfire and heard some people play the flute and enjoyed ourselves for a while before leaving. We'd been standing or walking for almost 12 hours straight, plus it was freezing out there, so we didn't stay to see the last two bands. It was a shame that the concert was not so good due to the lack of proper organization, but all in all it was a good event, hope they learn from their mistakes and make a better one next year.

Rêves Doux