shun the non-believer, shunnn

An interesting story about atheists came out a couple days ago, which you can read here. Basically, people who were baptized when they were younger (and consequently had no say in it) wanted to symbolically reverse the procedure in a mass de-baptism ceremony, which featured a blow-dryer marked "Reason and Truth."

The most common response I've seen to this article so far has been something like, "If they're atheists, why do they even bother with de-baptism?" To call these people atheists might be a bit misleading, as the term connotes an indifference to religion because there is a lack of belief. At least, that was my understanding of it. It might be more accurate to call them anti-theists because they're trying to make a statement against a religious practice (and Christianity in general, I suppose?). I mean, they're not really reversing anything by taking a blast of hot air to the face. It's really just for the "shock value," as someone in the article puts it.

I asked J about baptism once. Taking it from someone who got baptized himself, the ceremony is simply a display of faith. But the issue at hand isn't exactly baptism; it's religion versus "Reason and Truth." Even if that's the case, I think reconciliation is possible between the two. However, it requires being open-minded toward both worlds, which unfortunately is not always possible for some groups.

I lost my train of thought because I'm really bad at multitasking. So in conclusion, when it comes to religion, South Park has the right idea.

Season 5, Episode 4, if you must know.