DISCLAIMER:

The following blog is rated R and is intended for mature audiences. Reader discretion is advised.

An explanation of the title

As some of you may be aware, I started and run a little hole in the wall atheist page on Facebook called God Doesn't Matter. Since it's just a small page I can easily keep up with most interactions there and am pretty involved on the page. So when people share things to the page I generally have time to check it out. Usually it's a meme from another page or some stuff and I share a lot of it back on the main page. Sometimes however it is something that absolutely sets me off. And when that happens it's time for a rant.

Who fucking DOES THAT?!

I was reminded recently of just how twisted the mind of the believer can be; reminded of how deluded and convoluted their thinking can become. When you truly believe god has a plan - you can excuse away anything. Personal responsibility becomes only a novel idea under that premise.

A friend of the page had shared an item, so I figured I owed it at least a glance. I read the title, "Sleeping Killer Took Wife and Mom From Them on Her 'Expiration Date'", and wasn't sure I wanted to dive into this article. I was expecting yet another emotion-filled story of a man who loses a wife and has his family torn apart, who eventually comes to accept it through the redemptive blood of Christ.

That wasn't what I got at all, and I wasn't really prepared for what was there.

I began reading a story that we hear far too often here in the US. The story of a truck driver working on too little sleep who fell asleep at the wheel and caused a fatal accident. The odd hours and pay by the mile push drivers to hammer down and push their limits on sleep and actual rest. I've got truckers on both sides of my family, so I know how it is. It's no excuse. It's just a way of life for men and women who make their living on the road driving a rig.

It turns out though that this trucker was highly Christian. As he sat serving a prison term of five years for vehicular homicide, a term the husband had urged strongly for to send a message to the trucking industry, this man got to thinking. He got abused in prison, as is often the case, and he became bitter. He looked to his god and of course he got just the answer he was looking for. He came to rationalize what had happened in his mind, and came to the conclusion that it was part of god's plan for him to kill that woman. Why, he didn't have a choice at all in the matter. It was just her time to go.

But that man who pushed the judge to give him prison time, well that wasn't god's plan. No sir. That man had a choice and he chose to have the trucker sent to prison. Because god's plan couldn't possibly involve a man serving time in prison for taking an innocent life due to his own negligence.

Even after the husband went and spoke to the parole board on the trucker's behalf. Telling them he had been angry when asking for the sentence and wanting to prove a point. And telling them he thought the punishment too stiff. This trucker only grew more bitter. After serving only half this sentence he just became an ever larger ball of hate and bitterness. Totally unwilling to take responsibility for what he'd done.

Even after the husband sends the trucker letters telling him that he and his two sons, both of whom were in the accident and one of which is now wheelchair bound and in need of special fucking medical care for the rest of his goddamn life, forgive the trucker. And even after the husband tries to visit the trucker in an attempt to stifle any enmity between the two, the trucker still refuses to man up and take responsibility for what he did.

And do you want to know the best fucking part? The goddamn coup de gras?! The trucker actually told the husband he hopes the husband burns in hell for ruining his life when he went to prison.

Who fucking DOES THAT?! - (Read the article by clicking here)

A jackass. That's who!

This is a perfect example of the inherent harm of religion. It isn't in what religion does because it doesn't do anything in and of itself. It does fuck with the mind though, and it does offer the potential to justify any dumb shit you want to believe. It can justify slavery or murder or any other insane idea someone gets in their head.

One of the most fundamental aspects of atheism for me is personal responsibility. When you realize there is most likely no god and no plan, you have to face the reality that it's all on you. You have to own up to the fact that every mistake you make is on you. There's no god or devil to blame. The practical upshot of this is that every achievement is your’s to own too. You don't need to give praise to some god when you do something awesome. This makes so many atheists work really hard at being awesome. And yes, we take pride in our accomplishments and there's nothing wrong with that. If we have to wear our faults we should get to wear our accomplishments too.

That trucker killed a woman and permanently injured a child. He ripped apart a family. And in a selfish and cowardly attempt to wipe his conscience clean, he blamed it all on god. That's the face of religion for you. Pitiful and cowardly without a shred of integrity. That's worth spitting on in my book.

End rant.