REFLECTIONS ON RELIGION

 I HATE RELIGION. 

Every time I say that, I get lots of glares then someone accuses me of being an atheist!

Atheist? Good God, in my book it takes a great deal of arrogance to be an atheist, for just looking around at this planet not to mention the universe of which we know so little, tells me that there has to be a much greater creative force than humans will ever be able to understand.

So yes, I believe in a much greater creative force than humans, and being human, I too have a natural instinct to worship it. 

Nothing wrong with that I suspect.

My dislike for religion therefore has nothing to do with a belief in God by whatever name. It has  to do with the distorted messages religions send  and the chaos and bloodshed they leave behind as they try to confuse people and yes, TO MAKE MONEY.

For with religion comes people who claim that they and they alone know the truth about everything.

I grew up in a Christian home, where Jesus, the bible etc. were everything and could never be doubted. The ritual was, church as many times as possible during the week and up to three times on Sundays. Added to that, there were nightly prayers and it was drummed into our heads that we should pray to God for everything. 

Well I have a friend who grew up in those identical circumstances and some years ago he told me he was an atheist. When I asked why, he told me that when he was a teenager and taking his Senior Cambridge exams (yes, he is close to 80, for that exam was many decades ago!) he prayed to God every night to let him pass. 

WELL HE FAILED,. 😅

So the next year he repeated the exam, did not beg God for anything and studied fiercely.

HE PASSED.

So, he tells me, from then he decided that he had to rely only on himself to succeed and he and his family  have indeed succeeded immensely.

Well I am not going that far, but I too definitely stopped praying to beg for anything for decades now. WHAT I DO EVERYDAY THOUGH, IS TO THANK HER FOR EVERYTHING.  

No begging only gratitude and I really feel good about it!

But back to religion. 

Of all the established religions, I dislike Christianly the most. 

Maybe it's because that is the religion I know the most about or maybe its because just about everyone I know, claims to be a Christian, and I find most Christians to be such despicable people. 

As to white evangelists, they seem to be really terrible people. I say seem, as I am not aware of ever having met any, but when I hear what their leaders say and read what adherents write, I really cringe. 

However, having grown up in the Christian church, I still enjoy Christian music and play it often.

In fact, its listening to this one that motivated me to write this article!

I liked it so much that I even posted it on Facebook, dedicating it to my Christian friends, during holy week.

However, while I love the music, the boring thought of flying around during the after-life, while drinking milk and honey all day, is enough to send me flying! That's almost as unattractive a thought as being one of the 70 virgins waiting around for some devout Muslim man to come and claim me as a prize.😟

The bible too drives me crazy and most times when I hear quotations, my response rangers from laughter to downright anger. A really laughable one is Solomon having 700 wives and an example of the ones that set me off are the misogynistic sections starting from the insult that I was created from a man's rib. 

Over the years, because of my interest in, especially, the after life, I have looked at many religions but the only one I think I could ever get involved with when I reincarnate, is Buddhism.

My attraction to the Buddhists comes from the fact that they are the most peaceful religion, for they certainly don't believe in or practice killing people to convert them!

My only problem, is that they are so peaceful and against shedding blood, that they are vegans.

Having spent so many decades reveling in the delicious meats, I could never at this point, stomach the thought of living without meat in this life.

So every time I see a live animal, I feel so badly that I promise it that I will become a vegan in my next life, for in this one, I am just so far gone that I can't even find the will to change!

Lets see how that pans out!

(169) Joan Williams, author - YouTube

Karma is real

 As I listened and watched Dr. Sasa, special representative to the UN representing the parliament of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) on BBC's Hard-talk, during which videos showing extreme brutality against peaceful demonstrators in that country were shown, my heart  broke. 

For the benefit of those who have not been keeping up to date with matters there, briefly; on the 1st February 2021, the democratically elected government which was led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was overthrown by the military, and she was put under house arrest. 

Suu Kyi had been a Nobel Prize winner for the years she had stood up to the military rulers there and had endured imprisonment. After much trial and tribulations, she was elected by landslide in 2016 and became prime minister,  In November 2020 she again led her party to victory, but the army refused to accept the results, so like Trump, they claimed the election was stolen and staged a military coup. (Trump would have loved to have the support of the USA army to stage a similar coup on the same  grounds, but all he had was a bunch of morons who wrecked the capitol building😡!) 

Since February 2021, a large majority of the voters in Myanmar have been staging peaceful protests against the military, but instead of giving in,  the brutality of the military rulers has been increasing exponentially and the death toll keeps rising daily, as they fire live bullets into crowds of peaceful demonstrators.

In the interview on Hard-talk on March 12th, 2021, Dr. Sasa was begging the free world to come to the assistance of his country, and as I listened to his pleas, memories start to flood in. 

That is, memories of the images of mainly women and children who belonged to the Rohingya tribe.

They had lived in Myanmar for decades, but suddenly, they were being attacked and beaten, raped and brutalized and their homes and villages burnt to the ground by that same military. 

This started in 2017, when the majority people in Buddhist Myanmar decided that they did not want those Muslims around. Of the 1.4 million Rohingya's who lived there, thousands were killed and almost 800,000 now live under the most terrible conditions in camps in Bangladesh.

When those atrocities were being committed against the Rohingya's, the International Curt of Justice, in January 2020, unanimously ordered the government of Myanmar to stop the genocide. 

But guess who had gone to the court in December 2019, to testify court that the military were not committing atrocities against those hapless people?

Aung San Suu Kyi of course!

As I watched the interview with Stephen Sackur on BBCTV, this poem came to me. It is said that the writer is unknown for it had been found in one of the gas chambers in Germany, after the holocausts;

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

As I listened to the interview, I wondered out loud if Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar had ever heard that poem!

There is now absolutely no doubt in my mind that Karma is real.

(169) Joan Williams, author - YouTube

The case for republicanism

Jamaica used to be the most independent and progressive of what was known as the West Indies, but on the issue of becoming masters or mistresses of our own destiny, we are 
certainly falling behind. 

While we were the first of the former colonies in the Caribbean to declare independence from Britain, on the matter of totally breaking away from those who oppressed out ancestors for centuries, we are acting like morons. For the Queen of England remains our head of state although we have been independent for almost 60 years.

In the meantime Dominica, Trinidad, and Guyana have become republics and the prime minister of Barbados, announced that in November 2021 Barbados will also ditch the British monarchy as its head of state. 

Yes Barbados, which has always been considered more British than the British. 

The insignia given to black Governor's General by the Queen shows the Archangel trampling Satan who is black!

Even in white Australia, the topic has resurfaced, with ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, tweeting that in light of the very 'sad revelations' by  Megan and Harry in that famous interview with Oprah Winfrey, it should bolster the call to cut ties with the British monarchy.

In the meantime, Jamaica seems doomed to remain forever hanging on to the skirt tail of the British monarchy, even with a governor general representing the British Queen and wearing an insignia that depicts the archangel St. Michael trampling Satan, who is drawn with dark skin.

In light of the recent revelations where Megan and Harry confirmed what we should already have known, (that the British monarchy is a racist institution,) I again wondered out loud on facebook about when or if Jamaica will seek republican status.  The responses were many, swift and diverse. While most respondents rued the fact that we still maintain the royal family as the head of our country, one respondent declared that Jamaica will never change this situation as it is a racist country!

I had to disagree with that respondent, as I really don't believe that Jamaica is still a racist society although there is no doubt that we still have a number of racists among us. And we have a handful of monarchists too, (some of whom contend that such a move will spell economic disaster, although there is no evidence of this in the former west indies territories which ditched the monarchy.) who believe it would be a sin to remove the royal family😁 and replace the head of state with a local person.

Yes, mental slavery is still alive and well among a few.

 Let me make it clear that despite the fact that Queen Elizabeth is a descendent of those who committed the most serious atrocities against our ancestors, I have nothing against her personally. In fact, I dare say she has done her job with good grace, dignity and diplomacy. Even she however realizes that her type of character will no longer be displayed, once she steps down and her son, Charles takes up any role, including in the predominantly black commonwealth, so she is holding in for as long as possible. 

I am personally repulsed by even the thought that Charles, that despicable person, could become Jamaica's head of state and his wife Camelia, the first lady! For it is no secret that the cold fish Charles, drove Diana to her death.

In the famous interview, Prince Harry said that it was neither the queen nor her husband, who were upset that he and mixed race Megan may have a black child, but he refused to say who it was. In my book, such a petty concern, would fall right into Charles' character. Besides why else would he stop taking Harry's phone calls after he opted to stand up for his wife and child?

While I agree that the queen has been unobtrusive and diplomatic in her role, that second generation of hers, including Andrew, the alleged pedophile, have nothing to contribute to Jamaica!

You know, for around three or four decades, we have been debating this issue of republicanism, but both the JLP and PNP have been standing in the way of progress. For while both parties claim that they support replacing the monarchy, they cannot sit down and agree on the type of president we should have, executive or ceremonial. 

Good god, this is not rocket science. If the two parties were really in for of republicanism, they could take the gradual route Guyana did, or some variation. For Guyana first started with a ceremonial president to remove British, then moved on to the executive presidency.

It is totally disgraceful and demoralizing to majority of Jamaicans who do no to wish to have any further association with the despicable British royal family, the racist oppressors of our ancestors, that our politicians continue keep skirting around the issue.

https://youtu.be/oCqHflj4SNE