frank-schlongbottom:

i used to think that a foot of parchment was a lot and feel bad when harry potter characters were assigned to write that much

but then i realized the paper i write on is 8.5 by 11 inches.

so a foot of parchment is the equivalent of like, not even a page and a half of paper.

they complained SO MUCH about essays that were like

a page and a half

wtf guys

get your shit together

(Source: teacupsandnutmeg, via delaluce)

Commence the Decrease in Facebook Friends, the increase in Reddit Upvotes, and the Continued Absence of Follwers on Tumblr.

I know I’m not one to gripe about these things much, but there comes a time where I say enough is enough…

I’m not religious, notice how I don’t say I’m an “Atheist.” While most of my thoughts and opinions about religion fall into the category of “Atheism”, I don’t believe that I am Atheist.  It’s kind of hard to explain, and frankly I have 39 followers so this probably isn’t going to get much attention.  That is another story in itself.  I guess you can say that I’m not an Atheist because I don’t think Atheism exists either (wooaaahh deep right? Haha).

I believe that religion was fabricated by man to give a sense of hope to the poor back in ancient times.  Hope that commoners thrived on.  It started with a simple message, “If you do good things in life, you’ll get rewarded afterwards.”  This is simple enough.  I fully believe in karma.  Why else would I stub my toe after I got into a heated argument with my sister?  

But religion didn’t stop there.  It grew into an elaborate story of great triumphs (and mass murders, which is another reason why I don’t like religion all so much) of how the small overcame the big and such.  And people clung on to those stories, as a little kid does with his “favorite bedtime story.”  Only this story stuck like mega ultra super heavy duty gorilla glue, and grew way out of proportion.

Now religion is everywhere, in every aspect of society.  The words “Under God” were added into the Pledge of Allegiance several years later, the coins and bills in our society have “In God we trust” on them, and the president has to swear on the Bible that he will do his job.  It’s now in our media.  

The gray quotes below is an excerpt from an interview which involved a well known reporter, Wolf Blitzer, interviewing a young woman who narrowly escaped a horrible death in Oklahoma by leaving her home before the tornadoes hit.  After this question, which Wolf Blitzer had to ask TWICE, she replied “I’m actually an atheist.” and proceeded to laugh.  The comment below is from Reddit user antonivs, and it sums of my view perfectly:

Blitzer: “I guess you’ve gotta thank the Lord, right?”
Rebecca: “Yeah”
Blitzer: “Do you thank the Lord… for that split-second decision?”

“The first question is inappropriate for a person claiming to be a journalist for a secular organization. It’s a leading question that assumes religious belief on the part of the interviewee, and it puts her in a position where it’s difficult to answer anything other than “yes”. Which being a smart woman, she did.

Blitzer asking the question a second time, after the first response, is inexcusable. It’s pushing for a very public display of religious belief, and abusing the power of his media platform to do it. If not evangelizing, what do you call it?

Religious harrassment, perhaps? You’re right, that’s probably a better term.

Whatever you want to call it, it’s inappropriate and unprofessional.”

 -As you see, he uses the term “evangelizing,” which is another argument that I don’t want to get into.

But, this user is completely right.  A CNN reporter, abuses his power, to prove that some devine overlord ruler told her to leave the house before a tornado come through on national television.  Over and over again you see instances like this in a natural disaster.  Where people “saved” say right to the camera that “The Lord answered our prayers.” So then there’s this.

Why did he, your overlord creator God, not answer the prayers of the 30 other people who died?  I’m pretty sure that their “prayer” (If they had any) was not to have them die.  Why did everyone’s “God” answer only YOUR prayer? It just doesn’t make sense to me.  

Now when someone (if anyone) SUPER RELIGIOUS (again, this isn’t a bad thing!  I think we need religion in this world to a point.) sees this, they’re going to reply with something saying “The Lord works in mysterious ways.”  Well, please elaborate for me because I am baffled as to why he chose you, when I’m sure more than half of those killed went to church (I mean, it’s Oklahoma, even I know that’s  in the Bible Belt).

(Awkward transition) One of my idols, comedian Bo Burnham, who is by far the most real, down to Earth sounding person I’ve heard of brings this point up about praying as well.  Albeit it is satirical, but it does have a point: 

And though this is your day of rest, I come to you with one request

“There’s so much pain beyond this steeple, 
Wars and drugs and homeless people.
Sadness, where there should be joy, hate and rape and soulja boy.
A world in darkness needs your light, so I’m sure your schedule’s pretty tight
But my dog just had leg surgery if you could fix that first…” 

 - This is the epitome of what I am talking about.  

“Religion is an opiate of the masses.”  Karl Marx once said. It’s a drug, a selfish drug that we all use because we fear death.  We fear anything that has to do with death.  So we create this place called “heaven” that apparently has “pearly” white everything (opposite of black which often symbolizes death…hmm), which spawns from religion, which turns into disagreements between small details between everyone’s seperate version of the “real” heaven, and this causes violence.  Violence to the highest degree.

That is why I choose not to be religious.  I choose free will, and if any of you who personally know me (and have read this far into this) you can see that I turned out pretty okay :). I have a family that loves me, an extended family of thespians that absolutely adore me every time I go back to my high school and visit them, and in some cases, I’m called the “Perfect guy.” Not to brag, but seriously I’ve heard that.  I’d say that I don’t really fit the stereotype that most “Devout” Christians give to “God haters.”(real quote from an acquaintance)

So open your eyes, people who aren’t religious are not the bad people.  Maybe it’s the religious people who have it all wrong.  After all, would you pray for everyone’s life if you were almost hit by an enormous tornado?  Or would you be selfish?

You can pray, but I believe that at that point, free will takes control.  If it hits me, so be it.  If it doesn’t, I am one hell of a lucky kid.

You go, nonreligious lady on CNN, you go. 

For those of you who read through this entire thing, thank you<3  Please tell me what you thought of it, good or bad.  I can take any criticism, for I am a strong, able bodied college boy that loves exploring others’ opinions. 

P.S. For an added bonus to the readers who’ve read all the way through.  If you’re feeling down or crappy, just look up the “Today you, tomorrow me” story on Reddit.  Just google it.  It’s the first link.  That will make you all warm and fuzzy inside, and also help you think about the world a bit.  I think about the quote every time I’m in a situation like that.

P.S.S. I can’t wait to admit my non-religious feelings on Facebook to a mass horde of overly religious friends on Facebook whose statuses are a bunch of Bible quotes.  

Soon for every Bible quote I see on Facebook, I will retort with my own quote about what I believe.  It’s time that the religious STOP OPPRESSING the Non-religious.  I’m sick of hiding it, really.  

-COMMENCE THE DECREASED FACEBOOK FRIENDS, THE INCREASE IN REDDIT UPVOTES, AND THE CONTINUED ABSENCE OF FOLLOWERS ON TUMBLR-