Good v. Evil

Watching the news lately and reading many friends' FaceBook post, I see the start of the political/religious attacks on Muslims, Christmas (or christians), and nonbelievers. I happen to partially fall into the last group, not that I am a nonbeliever (I believe in many things- see Crash Davis speech in Bull Durham), and being a man of science and because of my teachings, I have yet to see, read, or hear any credible proof of a higher order being outside of natural world. I do understand that there is an energy force that runs through everything and if people simply need to place a name on it, they can call it god, allah, buddha, zeus, odin or whatever.

So here are the question themes that are asked and implied in everyone's day to day lately.

Are Christians better than Muslims or Jews, or any combination of this equation? Are Muslims and/or Christians evil? Do nonbelievers have no ethics or moral base? If you pay attention to any of the talking heads on the heavily biased "news" shows, you can answer yes to any and all of these questions.

So are there good Christians? Yes. Probably a lot of people I know personally, who follow a christian based church and lead a mundane non threatening life and give to charity and do what they can to not harm others could be considered good Christians. I also know Jews, Hindus, Muslims, and others, including nonbelievers that live that same maudlin lifestyle and are very good people. A lot of Christian individuals have done some recognizable good work, like Martin Luther King Jr., Bishop Tutu, the current Pope, Bono, just to name a few. There is also a list of Muslims that have done good work in the world, I know most live a sheltered existence here in the US and believe that all Muslims are secret Jihadists living amongst us in sleeper cells, but that is just stupid to think and believe that. Malala Yousafzai, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, and Ahmed Zewail as a some that have displayed positive doings. Nonbelievers that have accomplished good ethical deeds, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, Clarence Darrow, David Suzuki, Douglas Adams, Katherine Hepburn, Brad Pitt, and Bob Geldof come to mind for me.

So now are there evil Christians? Yes. Many that claim they are religious, but demean others for being of a different race, culture, or have different sexual preferences. One of the biggest offenders in christianity is the Westboro Church. The history of "the church" with the inquisition, Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, Pat Robertson, Davis Koresh, all committed evil in the name of christianity. The same could be said for Muslims, with Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, ISIL leaders, etc... I am sure nonbelievers that have committed sinister acts. While naming famous nonbelievers is a bit more difficult and I can only come up with one and that being Garvilo Princip. I am sure many will try and tie some despots on to this list like Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Hitler, and/or Milosevic, but they would be wrong as all of these people have had been members of a religious sect.

As some one who is skeptical, does it bother me when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings or whatever? Absolutely not. Am I offended when I sneeze and someone say god bless you? Nope. It is not worth getting twisted about it. Do I offer similar salutations to others? Yes. Do I worry about offending them? No. My gesture is simply being cordial and polite. Once again, not worth getting twisted in a knot about.

So as we approach the high holidays and the winding down of the year, relax and enjoy life and sweat the little things and turn off the media and don't believe the hype.