Seven months ago, my mother implied that I would go to hell if I became an catholic.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

do you think doing something to spite another human being is going to be helpful to you? will it make you feel good except maybe for an instant? will it improve relations with your mom? also, one doesn't become an atheist because someone tells you to go to hell. it's not a club that you join. you either believe there is a god or some gods, you don't believe there are any gods, or you're not sure whether there are any gods, and then you choose the word that best describes you (if you don't believe there are any gods, congratulations: you're an atheist.) you can acknowledge that something someone else did opened your eyes to the fact that there are no gods, but "i'm mad at my mom so i think i won't believe in any gods anymore" is a kind of strange concept. also, if you're going to "blame" someone for being attracted to men, you're concluding that there is something wrong with that, and therefore there's some blame to apportion. there are people who think there is something wrong with that, but you know what? those people are bigots. don't be a bigot against yourself. be who you are and understand that that's just who you are. if you find things about yourself you'd like to change, first find out whether they need to be changed and whether they CAN be changed. being gay is not one of those things. it's natural, the only harmful thing about it is how people may be prejudiced against you and how they may make you prejudiced against yourself (so don't let them do that!). as for having kids, there are enough kids. you don't have to produce more kids to be a good human being. you do know that since there's no god, there's also no hell, right? your mom can't send you to hell. it's sad that you don't have a more understanding mom, but she is not a danger to you unless you let her be. be yourself. g

Given the challenges facing Earth (climate change, pollution, overpopulation etc) should we avoid ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i don't have children because i didn't want to have children. if i'd wanted them, i would not have let the earth's challenges stop me. we've always had challenges. our species reproduces and survives because that's what a species wants to do. challenges may change the way it reproduces and survives but the very essense of evolution is reproducing (not necessarily every individual) and surviving (definitely not ANY individual). g

How can I help my brother?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

this is something you need to ask your brother. find out whether you would be welcome there, and how he thinks you can best help him. g

I've always argued against the biggest islamic claim that the Quran is somehow unaltered since it ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

well, it's a religious tome. those have always been altered by kings, popes when appropriate, and emperors, for their own purposes, which generally had nothing to do with either the general welfare of the population or even faith in the faith in question. why should the quran be any different? g

Are you very concerned what happens to your body after death?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

nope. why would i be? i won't exist anymore except in my body of work and the memories of those who knew me, until they too cease to exist. my body won't have me in it (nor will i be anywhere else). it will be of no more use to anyone. g

Do you think the human species may undergo an evolutionary split soon?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

evolutionary splits happen fast for fruit flies. for us it would not be noticeable by any individual, probably not by any culture. these things don't just BOOM happen. cybernetics won't cause anything like an evolutionary split. g

So movie heads, who are your favorite directors and why?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i'm old so a lot of my favorite directors are now dead; they were not dead when i first encountered them and one of them, akira kurosawa, i actually met. but let's do it the hard way and in my case anyway think only of living directors. hmm. ken burns michael moore stephen spielberg (i sure would not have put him on the list in or before the 1990s!) wim wenders i like several female directors but they're not my faves. maybe one day they will be but not yet. it's not because they're female; it's because i'm not familiar enough with their work, or i liked but didn't love what i've seen so far. also i don't get out as much as i once did, due to mobility issues, so i am not as aware as i was when i worked in the film industry of who is doing what. g

Hurricane Florence reminded me of the following joke.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

haha when i read the title i thought okay, i have a joke to share. when i clicked through, i found you'd posted my joke! the moral of the joke's story is, of course, in the vernacular of the believer, god helps those who help themselves! g

SPECULATE: CAN ATHEISM BE SPREAD LIKE FAITH?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

on the one hand it would be nice if people were more reasonable, and that would mean fewer of them would resort to superstition. on the other hand, spreading atheism as a philosophy would just turn it into a religion for some people and eventually there would be a god of atheism, stupid as that sounds. atheism isn't a philosophy. except to those for whom it's a condition (we're all born atheists), it's a conclusion. the conclusion is useless if the underlying process is missing. if you use your noggin, you realize there are no gods. that realization is called atheism. so what we need to spread isn't atheism. it's reason. atheism will be reason's logical conclusion. g

Do you think religious or spiritual belief systems should be allowed to interfere with scientific ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

religion should have no interaction with science at all. when it tries to wander into the lab it should be taken by the shoulders, turned around and shoved back down the hall, and if it won't go, it should be kicked in the butt. g

Fitness Bucket List

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

being able to walk around the block without my walker. being able to go to the jcc and work out in the pool twice a week, which i currently can't do not only because i am usually feeling too ill but because transportation is so hard to arrange. short list! g

Have you ever been the athletic type or super good at sports?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i wrote an essay a long, long time ago, and i think that essay answers your question, so i will link you to it: http://sh1.webring.com/people/wg/genessa/nosports.htm g

What’s the worst injury you’ve ever gotten from the gym?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i have never been injured at a gym, but i have a health ride, which has handlebars like a bike. twice in my life i walked into the end of a handlebar, hard, right in the gut. the second time was so hard i wondered if i'd been injured, then dismissed the idea, but not long after that -- long enough not to put the two together but not years or anything -- i noticed the shape of my upper stomach changing weirdly when i began to lie back. i asked the doctor about it and she said it was diastasis recti, and that this meant the tissue holding my organs together there had torn. i'd never have a six pack, she said. it only recently (now a couple years later) occurred to me that the timing was such that i almost certainly had caused this by walking into that handlebar. so i really was injured on a piece of gym equipment, but at home, without even realizing i'd been injured. g

Where are you on the bridge?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

maybe to some. not to me. there was no bridge for me. i wasn't religious but i believed in a personal god. it wasn't an important part of my life but he was just sort of there to listen to me (not listen and grant favors, just listen). then i realized that was a fantasy. as i've said elsewhere, it wasn't traumatic. it was just a realization. there's no god... oh, okay. i didn't even think to mention it to my parents, who likely wouldn't have cared. you think there's no god? oh, okay. so i didn't have to crawl from point a to point b. i was never at any of those points lol g

The Real Problem I Love this site and the clarity of thinking exhibited, even love chasing down the...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i agree with your conclusion but not the reasoning for it. religion is certainly not the only way for people to achieve that feeling of belonging. however, there is no hope that by being militant we will ever get people to leave their superstitions behind. i think our real work is getting people to stop legislating them. without that, it doesn't even matter what people do or don't believe; believers and nonbelievers alike are more and more being compelled to tolerate living in a christian country (speaking of the usa, anyway). nothing is going to change internally as long as we tolerate that toxic environment. g

Are you still involved in highly religious settings despite no longer being a believer?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

not really. i was raised a secular jew and although i am an atheist i still self-identify as a jew; my guy still believes in a god, though i don't think he knows what kind of a god he believes in. i think his belief is kind of vague, maybe just a word; i think he just wants to think he will meet his parents and his family dog again when he dies. that's a pretty fantasy, but it doesn't really affect our daily lives. however, we're in the midst of the high holy days and he feels bad having missed rosh hashana services because he's in the hospital right now. (it's called methodist hospital.) if he had been able to go, i'd have gone with him. i actually enjoy it and don't feel threatened by it. i don't pray (obviously) and i don't feel obligated to go to synagogue just for the hell of it (funny expression, but language doesn't really serve atheists well) but a couple times a year, to hear the shofar blown and wish people happy new year and read the quite-interesting quotations, mostly about human interaction, in the back of the prayer book, no, i don't mind. i enjoy it. my mind is free, and as i say, i do not feel threatened. g

How do you deal with pain?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i have not found a way to deal with my usual fibromyalgia pain or diabetic neuropathy and i refuse to take anything for my arthritis most of the time. if the arthritis gets so bad that i can't put my hand down on the bed, and thus can't sleep, then i take 600mg of ibuprofen. g

Jo Ann Kelly - You Don't Love Me Baby ( Tramp 1974 Rare & Unissued Recordings, Vol 3 ) 1974 - ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kgeqWv7a1o g

Dating.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

well, i am spoken for, but imagining i were available, i would run screaming from a trump sympathizer, even one that was not hardcore. there could only be two reasons to support trump. one would be that she is a total racist white supremacist and his views actually appeal to her. the other would be that she is not very bright and she believes all the lies, including the lie that he wants the best for america and americans and isn't a racist at all. either way... what would you be getting yourself into? g

What do parents tell their 20 year old about immigrants?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i don't think the parents told this 20-year-old whatever they told her when she was 20. they probably indoctrinated her well before that age. so... did you bite her and then steal her job? 'sigh some people, eh? g

Anybody else irrationally annoyed by the term, "vibe?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

nope. our bodies, especially our brains, do emit electrical signals. vibrations, or vibes, may be an inaccurate way to describe that, but it works great, i think, to describe the way we read one another's emotions, state of mind, even small movements that predict other movements. it's not a matter of being psychic; it's not paranormal. (it's not technically vibrations either, but that's decent shorthand for it.) some people are better than others at this kind of reading. i guess they just don't dig the vibes. g

Ok..photo posted and profile filled out. So now, what is the meaning of us? Or the group?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

well, there appear to be two functions here. one is as a dating site and i probably don't have to explain that to you :-)) the other half is as a means for nonbelievers to connect socially without being inundated by all those annoying religionists. some religionists may join out of curiosity or other motivations -- i mean, they're not blocked or anything -- but i think it becomes easy to spot who is sincerely trying to learn what atheism is and what atheists do (pretty much anything anyone else does except, you know, believe there are any gods, and stuff centered around gods, like praying or shooting abortionists) and who is trolling. snoop around and see what interests you! g

In Univetsities: militant atheism or not?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

the first amendment would not permit that. what the first amendment not only permits but requires is that no one impose their religion on anyone else. so you could ban religious requirement (unless it was a religiously affiliated school) but you could not ban religious belief any more than you could ban political belief, and some of those are pretty stupid too. g

What each person believes in is special and personal.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

how do you KNOW most people cannot fathom the reality of your dreams? isn't that a little presumptuous? there is nothing wrong with fiction; i write fiction too. however, your reasons seems a bit condescending! g

My guy got hauled away tonight to a hospital with a religious name, but i have never been approached...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

update: he wasn't released today, he is still being hydrated on i.v., he still has the same problem, no one can find anything wrong, and it could be as long as a week and a half before he comes home. they want him symptom-free or, they say, he'll just be back. besides, at his age, dehydration can be deadly. so he is unhappy and lonely. i may be able to get a ride to visit him in the hospital on friday. g

Believers, please share your moral views on this.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

where, on agnostic dot com, are you going to find believers to answer your question? g

Why only bless people when they sneeze? Why not coughs, burps, hiccups, cracks, pops and farts?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

actually it is because sneezing was one of the first symptoms of the bubonic plague, the black death that nearly demolished europe. those other things were not plague symptoms. everyone knew that, with few exceptions, if you got the plague, you died. that's why it seemed so urgent and thus warranted a blessing. the habit has lingered so long that its origins are no longer widely known by those who offer the blessing. the song "ring around the rosy" is about the plague. another early symptom was a rosy round rash. it was thought that flowers (i forget whether it was only certain flowers or any old flowers) would protect you from the plague. today we say "ring around the rosy, a pocketful of posies, ashes to ashes, all fall down," which does describe the plague to an extent, but that "ashes to ashes" bit, appropriate as it may sound, was originally "achoo, achoo." that was the sneeze. g

For those of you who have Netflix, you may want to check out Scottish comedian Daniel Sloss.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i have no netflix, alas, but i did just watch a trailer, very short but funny. thanks for the tip! g

I had watched Black Panther last night on Netflix.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i saw it in a theatre. when i first decided to go, as part of a group (a kind of field trip), i thought it was about the black panthers -- that's how uninformed i was! when i found out it was an action film i was disappointed but decided to go anyway. as usual with action films, it was cranked up a bit loud and some of the violence (not the wakanda stuff so much as the stuff around the car chase) was annoyingly stereotypical (and loud!) but i was drawn in and it won me over. it really did. i doubt i'll go see another marvel film but i certainly can't regret seeing this one. it ended up being fun! g

First glimpse of my neighbors out on the ( Terrace?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

some people! the house across from ours was sold recently, and when i saw someone coming home, getting out of her car and going up the steps to her new home, i called out a hello and introduced myself. she turned and talked to me for a short while, introducing herself too. then i didn't see her for a while, until today, when i greeted her again, and again she was friendly and we chatted a bit. i don't get out much; i might not see her for a while, and to tell you the truth, my eyes are bad; the first time she said some other young women live there too and they all work in the same place. so for all i know she might be a different neighbor from the one to whom i initially introduced myself! but it is nice to know someone friendly is living across the street, and not someone like your neighbors, who really should have said SOMETHING. they might have been in the middle of a fight and not been in the mood to talk but they could have waved, or tried to smile, or SOMETHING. g

Do you believe in life after love? I think I'm bipolar.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

there was life before love, wasn't there? g

How do you deal with fake news and or the people who share it?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i bust it. if i don't bust it, if we don't all bust it, people might believe it. facts are good for that. g

Why does always feel as though we must be either or, black or white is or is not?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

it doesn't actually feel that way to me, although i see those around me thinking in those terms. i try to combat it, gently, when i can. g

Grandchildren

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

my kids are all furbabies. two of them have produced kittens. two of those kittens are still alive. there is a maiden aunt among them as well. they're all elderly. i have never had human kids and i am old now. i don't think i would have been a good parent. i think i would be a good one now, but it's a moot point. g

I want to recommend an important book:VACCINATION IS NOT IMMUNIZATION by Dr.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i should read pseudoscience from an anti-vaxxer? that old vaccinations cause autism stuff has been well disproven but he keeps cranking it out? no thanks. g

Who made the rule about speaking no ill of the dead?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

it's not a rule. it's a custom. it was probably once thought to be bad luck; now it's thought simply to be inconsiderate. someone who has just died probably has loved ones who are in some kind of pain, grieving for their loss. it would be inconsiderate to burden them with insults. g

In the Abrahamic religions Saturday is the Sabbath. Did they forget?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i don't know about islam but in judaism every day begins and ends at sundown. this includes the sabbath of course, so the sabbath is friday night sundown to saturday night sundown. g

Did anyone else go through the stages of Atheism?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

nope. it didn't happen to me at all. my stages: 1. wow, i'm jewish and i have never gone to services. i should go and study and find out what this is about. 2. okay a year of that is enough. i'm still jewish and the talmud is way interesting but i am not making friends and i guess i'll just go back to being a jew without going to services, even though i kind of miss the studying part. 3. wow my folks told me long-haired boys are dirty and rebellious and i see that's just not the case. what else did i believe that wasn't true? let's see. god. yeah, that's not gonna fly. still a jew, but there's no god. yup, okay, got it. 4. what's for dinner? g

Albert Einstein believed in the pantheistic god of 17th century rationalist Baruch Spinoza.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

that's odd, because einstein didn't claim to believe in any kind of gods at all. in fact he indicated otherwise. g

Raised Atheist or left a religion?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i was neither raised an atheist nor left a religion. i was raised as a secular jew and realized at age 15 there were no gods. i didn't even think about not being a jew anymore; i'm still a jew. it's not actually a dealbreaker lol. g

Greetings one and all.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i believe that people have a right to believe any stupid thing they want to believe. if they try to lay it on me, that's different. i am not prejudiced against any one religion. there are no gods. that's all. g

We hear news of thousands of women being raped, but we never hear the news of a man being raped.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

you never hear of men being raped? that's odd. i do. it's been in the news lately, too. g

Life...no body knows what will happen tomorrow.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

my body doesn't know a whole lot, actually, but i know SOME things that will happen tomorrow. whether or not i will participate in those things may be up in the air. g

I'm looking suggestions for my reading list. I will read just about anything so don't hold back.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

okay now for the rest of the list... well as much of a list as i can come up with off the top of my head at almost three in the morning. in no particular order: cancer ward -- aleksandr solzhenitsyn our mutual friend -- charles dickens the lathe of heaven -- ursula k leguin the seven pillars of wisdom -- t e lawrence i claudius -- robert graves claudius the god -- robert graves harpo speaks -- harpo marx gentleman's agreement -- laura z hobson the manchurian candidate -- richard condon tell me how long the train's been gone -- james baldwin (note, this is a short story) the once and future king -- t h white ragtime -- e l doctorow wind, sand and stars -- antoine de sainte-exupéry seymour, an introduction, and raise high the roof beam, carpenters -- j d salinger (note: two novellas in one volume) steppenwolf -- hermann hesse a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy -- doug adams (note: read the sequels too) the fixer -- bernard malamud pictures of fidelman -- bernard malamud the female man -- joanna russ the heart is a lonely hunter -- carson mccullers les miserables -- victor hugo a journal of the plague years -- stefan kanfer (note: daniel defoe has a book of the same name but it's a totally different book) when the war is over -- stephen becker kidnapped -- robert louis stevenson hallucinations -- reinaldo areinas jack the bear -- dan mccall any book you can find by nevil shute, geoffrey household, janwillem van de wetering, laurens van der post, any of the above authors, jane austen i have left off books like huckleberry finn and to kill a mockingbird because i am guessing you've already read them. if i am wrong, go for it! that's all for now. maybe i will think of more later. i am sure i will be shocked when i realize what i have forgotten! g

I'm looking suggestions for my reading list. I will read just about anything so don't hold back.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

look for any book by nicolas freeling. you'll want to read them all! g

I am the best singer in the world when that world consists of me alone in the car with the music ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

oh not me! back in the day when i drove, i was the best singer in the world in the car but never alone. my dog had to be in the car too! g

Tell me your thoughts on Ricky Gervias and his comedy.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i hated his show. i adore him as a person and i adore his stand-up (and his wisdom). just not the show. oddly enough, i like jerry seinfeld as a comedian and i really couldn't stand the show seinfeld! g

What’s the big deal about bras?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

bras do not in any way, shape or form cause cancer. uncomfortable they certainly are. i gave them up in 1971. if i were a runner, i might feel differently and wear a stretchy sports bra just to keep from hurting myself. i'm not a runner. a nurse has answered below with two good reasons why she wears a bra. one has to do with practicality (not teat-smacking the patients) and one is personal preference (not wanting her nipples to show; some mind and some don't mind; i myself don't wear thin white blouses so i'm fine). not everyone has the same size or density of breast either. what is uncomfortable for some of us may provide comfort for someone with a different build. i am against bras for myself but i am not going to criticize other women for making a different decision. i feel differently, though, about makeup and about high heels. high heels are designed to make a woman's legs look unnatural in a way that men apparently find attractive; we've been trained to find that attractive in ourselves too, but the real purpose of high heels is the same as the real purpose of foot-binding in china: to keep a woman from being able to run away from men. of course that is by no means the conscious purpose anymore; shoe manufacturers probably don't say "ah HA, this will make her more rapable!" nonetheless, that's where they come from and that's their real purpose. as for makeup, we must exaggerate our features to attract men. no matter that we look like clowns and hide whatever real beauty we might actually have. we're trained to see ourselves as ugly, unkempt and unavailable, even, with bare faces. we think we're doing it for ourselves. we don't necessarily think "oh i'd better put on my face or no man will ever love me." we think "oh i look terrible, let me put on my face." bras? i can't stand them but i'm not going to attribute bad motivations to whoever invented them. it was probably a woman who was trying to keep her heavy teats from hurting as gravity tugged at them. g

Simplicity.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i did all of those things today. i don't feel any different. my guy is still in the hospital. i still have an endometrial biopsy coming on monday and we still can't afford the mortgage. know what helps? just watching the cats be cats. g

Happiness is a negative biopsy!!

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i hope this coming monday i get really happy. i won't be happy DURING; it's an endometrial, no anesthesia, just pain. mazel tov on your negative! see, people tell us not to be negative but sometimes we NEED to be! g

How evangelical are you about your lack of faith?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i will share pertinent memes now and again, but i don't go out of my way to try to persuade folks to stop following the religions of their choice. i will fight back when attacked for not believing, though. that's not evangelism. that's self-defense. g

Don't deny it...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

feh, let's just perpetuate a stupid myth and call it a joke. you can call any old nasty thing a joke -- that doesn't inoculate it from criticism. not only am i a woman, i actually know other as many women as i know men, and i don't know anyone at ALL who is habitually undecided about where to go to eat. i always know where i want to go. sometimes i ask my guy what he wants for dinner, and he has never told me what he's in the mood for, so i guess i do know ONE undecided person when it comes to food. he's not a woman, though. g

Religious People

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i can't argue with this! g

Is it just me, or r there a lot of people on here that are really taken with their own ability to ...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

actually, some of us CAN write. shall we pretend we're just not that good? g

How old were you when you first watched porn?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

oh gosh, in my 30s? i find it quite laughable but i lived in japan and you couldn't escape it; every video shop had it. one tape caught my interest as it was comprised of clips from the 1920s. it was hysterical! then i met a guy who became my lover and he liked porn, so we rented some and it was STILL laughable, especially since japanese porn blurs out the porn bits. i found out that the basic premise of japanese porn is that if a woman (usually young enough that one wants to say girl instead of woman) isn't screaming in pain, she's just not having any fun. so i was going to write an essay about it and rented more. it got depressing and i just had to stop. it wasn't titillating or stimulating. it was just sad. americans had sex happily but with no actual regard for each other. japanese tortured each other. gays guys just pumped away with no emotion. purported lesbians did all the things men imagine they do but i thought it was probably not how women love each other. it was sad, all around. i never wrote the essay. g

Which do you like better, Star Wars or Star Trek? Why?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

neither! i'm a whovian and a leaper! g

What music could you...?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i couldn't do it. i'd die. g

First personal post.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

day for night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBsxbjTIJxs=4=PLAfByHWupdonVG3ND19BbfHNr41UKE_ot you can see clips of it, and the trailer, if you follow the list from which this is part 2 of 10. part 1 seems to be an ad for whoever put together the list so start here with part 2. some of the parts are repetitious. for music: the grateful dead's live dead album, first three sides. for tv: murphy brown, at the moment. g

Homeopathy

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

homeopathy works for what it works for. cancer is one of the many things that it does NOT work for. goldenseal works GREAT for the stuff i use it for. i wouldn't use it for cancer, or for diptheria, or e-coli, but when my ibs acts up, or if i have a cut or sore, it's fabulous. the problem with homeopathy is that it's not one thing, and it's also not a panacea, and it's touted as one thing, and further touted as a SUBSTITUTE for all medicine-as-we-know-it -- which is NOT all scientifically proven, by the way. fda approves things according to its own little criteria, which may be as much economic as science-based (maybe moreso, in fact) and some substances with real potential, even scientifically proven potential, are held at bay by special interests such as the alcohol and tobacco industries. what i think of most of what is presented as homeopathic medicine? quack quack quack. but lots of legitimate stuff gets lumped in there and badmouthed along with it. g

What I have to say about religion, or about politics is.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i don't like hershey's. they make bad chocolate (yes, i know, to some there is no such thing). i do like music, but i'm particular. doritos, boring but not icky. ice cream, well, for me it has to be a good flavor, and that rules out chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, although french vanilla or vanilla bean is good. coke and pepsi, feh! that's not even food. really, you can say no more? not criticizing, but curious: why are you here, then? g

I found the ultimate slip on Facebook. It was a Christian woman who referred to the Crucifiction!!

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

ha! a good one! although gruesomefiction would work too. g

Do you check out the pictures before you purchase a calendar and do you only buy the calendar if you...

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i don't care whether the best picture is for my birth month, as long as there are enough good picture for most of the months. i don't care if i keep the wrong month on display either. i keep my schedule on the computer! i only like calendars for the pictures. g

Are any of you music lovers musicians?

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

i used to play piano. circumstances changed. play in your mind! listen to fahey, kottke, lang, blackshaw, or if you play electric, listen to young, clapton, hendrix, mayall, or if you like slide listen to lindley, cooder, raitt. close your eyes and play along with them until you know every note by heart and so do your fingers. i don't know how to defeat tendonitis, but assuming you'll eventually be able to play again, maybe this is the way to defeat stir-craziness while you wait. g

Capitalism works on much the same principle as evolution.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

you can say that capitalism works on much the same principle as evolution, or that lobsters are related to kangaroos, or that john lennon was secretly a druid, and some people will say, oh yeah, cool, i get it, but in fact evolution doesn't work on a principle, and capitalism isn't a natural phenomenon; it's the way some people do things, whether within a compatible economic system as a subset of same, or as the system itself. if you're making an analogy, details would be helpful (you've provided none; you've just made a statement!) i might still disagree, but at least i'd have a clue what you were thinking. g

Hi folks.

genessa comments on Sep 13, 2018:

pretty much everything will offend someone, so i don't worry about it. i don't like celery. i know that SOMEWHERE, someone will take that personally and condemn me to whatever punishment they believe in for disliking celery. there is always potential offense. g

First impressions can be over-looked?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

no. i do not ignore first impressions but i try to be open to correction if i've caught someone on a bad day or misunderstood them or misassessed them in some way. however, if someone continues to be obnoxious, that's not a first impression anymore and warning bells should be going off in your head. if you have a towel, throw it at him. g

Has any Republican summed up Trump better than McCain did?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

mccain certainly had his flaws (one of them, but not the only one by a long shot, was named palin) but he was neither an idiot nor a traitor. i disagreed with just about every idea of governance he ever had. that doesn't make him a bad man. he certainly assessed trump correctly. g

Are You a Voter?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

since i have never been religious i vote for the candidate who seems to share my values, which are not religious but which might have nothing to do with NOT being religious any more than they have to do with being religious. however, if a candidate even hints at busting up the separation of church and state, they've lost me. therefore i always vote democratic. the republicans are intent upon destroying that separation. that's not the only reason, of course. but i assure you it's not the name of the party that matters. it's just that all the candidates i like inevitably turn out to be democratic -- so should i ignore that and claim not to favor one party over another, when i clearly do? meanwhile, we do not have a parliamentary system. our government doesn't make coalitions. voting third party before a third party has become viable in lesser positions (start with the school board, or city council) just hands victory to the republicans. if you like republicans, go ahead and vote third party. that'll divide the liberal vote and the republicans will win, and when they win, winner takes ALL. there is no compromise there. you can deny it all you want, you can talk about third parties, you can say (incorrectly, but you can say it, while we're still a relatively free country) that both major parties are alike (but if you check congress.gov you'll see that this isn't remotely true), but if you vote third party, in today's america, you are voting republican. g

A long overdue admission: I have been trying to learn to play the guitar since 1973.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

scales and arpeggios and... you know, whatever guitarists do that are equivalent to the boring stuff pianists have to do. make it MORE boring. make it so boring you fall asleep while doing them. that would be a good thing because that means you know them so well you can do them in your sleep (it doesn't matter that you can't stay awake while doing them). then do them backwards. then do them inside out. then eat something and take a nap without playing any scales. then do it all again. g

Hi - I am wondering as to what other Atheist Jews decide on the point of displaying a Mezuzah.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i like them as artifacts. i don't believe in the holiness of the scrolls within them, and have not bothered to have them sanctified or blessed or whatever it is, because, apart from the expense, i don't believe in the concept of holiness (not literally, anyway -- and i might say "holy shit!" to express surprise). i just like them. they're beautiful things. they also mean "i am jewish," whatever that may mean. to me it means culturally and ethnically. i have seen assertions by jews and by nonjews that there is no such thing. well, i KNOW that's not so. whether an individual identifies with the culture or ethnicity is one thing, but to say there is no such thing -- well, clearly there is! i identify. g

These people claim to be loving, godfearing christians. Have they ever READ anything Jesus said?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

as facebookers like to say, it's complicated. first of all, jesus, as labeled, if he existed (in which case his name certainly wasn't jesus, which is a greek name) was a jew. second of all, the people who wrote about what he purportedly said and did never met jesus. third of all, even the stuff written by those folks who never met him apparently wasn't even written by them, which means it was written by people who never met the people who never met jesus but who are credited with saying all the stuff they couldn't possibly know about jesus to begin with. so let's go back to his being jewish. if people were really all so hot on jesus, they'd be jews! g

The ghouls among us!

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

not my thing... but i do like dr g, medical examiner. g

I would like to see "friends", like Fb on here. Is that possible? Agree, disagree?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

we can see who follows us and whom we follow. we can see our messages, so we know with whom we've communicated. we can mark favorite people. isn't that like a friends list? g

Wait. What?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

msnbc has many hosts with many interests. i like hayes, maddow and o'donnell. but they do not stick only to guests who think as they do; they interview republicans too, and not just the ones who've come to their senses lol i cannot speak for the other hosts, though matthews, hot-headed as he is, has a good heart and isn't as stupid as he sometimes appears to be, joy reid is great but has a show airing when i am trying to sleep, and some of the others who sometimes sub in the evening are pretty good. they, too, may have guests who say foolish things. they're given all kinds of chances to show themselves to be kind or smart. they often blow it. g

Now and then, how things have changed ?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

la plus ça change, la plus c'est la même chose! g

The source attribution effect, or : Tribal thinking trumps reason

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

well that's bullshit. sorry, but it is. i have been an atheist for half a century and a democrat longer than that (even though i was only 15 when i realized there were no gods), and i do not automatically eschew anything biblical just because it is biblical, nor do i automatically credit something from an ancient philosopher just because it is from an ancient philosopher. on what basis do you make this statement? if a republican says something correct, i may or may not doubt the motivations but not the truth of the content, and i will say so, too. maybe the people you know are like this. small samples are meaningless. for me, for the intelligent people i know, the content is more important than the source, even though we DO consider the source (that is not stupid to do). of course, you're talking about lying to people about the source, aren't you? don't you ever get caught? how do you expect to get an honest reading when the whole test is dishonest? feh! g

Tolerance Level

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

it depends on what's at stake. you can't knock yourself out every time; the litter box has to be changed and one has to stay nourished and hydrated. one has to pick one's battles. how well do i know the person, what is the foolishness in response to if it's a response, to whom is it aimed, what kind of mood am i in, is it a day ending in "y," you know, stuff like that. g

Welcome to the Newly revived Jewish By Culture Group.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

hopes and aspirations? hmm. just to see what everyone else thinks and is up to and feel free to speak my alleged mind as well :-)) g

Good morning people. I hope all of you have a good day today! [youtu.be]

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

back atcha, and thanks for posting a beatles song, since youtube won't let us hear them unless they're live or alt versions or covers. g

My Sister Khaye - YouTube

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

yeah it mentions god and heaven. i don't care. that's not the point of the song at all. g

Would you pay someone to date you?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

in what way would that be a date? (yeah, i know, there are golf dates and business dates, but that's not what you're talking about.) that's a date the way a hooker means it when she sidles up to a car and says "hey honey, wanna date?" i mean that whether sex is involved or not. i am not saying it's wrong (or right) but just that it's not a date. g

Question: What Is The Best Candidate In Our Solar System (Apart from Earth) As An Abode For ...

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i have to agree with those who have mentioned enceladus, which is what was on my mind when i read the question. i can't help wondering whether an intelligent life form there might wonder if there was extraenceladusian life anywhere in its solar system. g

[newrepublic.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

that's interesting. i am jewish and have jewish friends, and none of us have been raised to revere israel. i am not doubting you. everyone is raised differently. i just find it odd. not your fault, of course. g

I am thinking about starting over.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

yes. i picked up and went to japan, barely knowing the language. unemployment and despair prompted me to do it, along with an invitation from friends who lived there. it was like... living anywhere, but the details were different! i gained a lot of confidence there, i must say. good luck! g

I want to believe humankind has an inspiring, logical, empathetic, and reasonable need for existing.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i don't think so. i would like to believe it too, but... no. it doesn't look that way. g

Morality doesn’t mean ‘following divine commands’.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

some may argue, and some have argued, that morality is a system. i don't buy that, but the idea is prevalent enough that i prefer to speak of ethicality, not morality. on the other hand, morality, or ethicality, while it may involve, or even revolve around, reducing suffering, that is not what it means. that isn't its definition. as doe appreciation, no. just no. you do not have to appreciate suffering. you just have to recognize it and empathize with it. i do agree that none of this need in any way be dependent on mythology. it comes from within, albeit it can be ignited from without. g

I've been on this site since April and enjoy it immensely.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

aretha said it, didn't she? maybe we were all tapping our feet but not really listening. i label my opinions as such, but i know some facts, too, and (sadly enough) a lot of folks don't know the difference. i've run into some conspiracy theorists, pugnacious political trolls and folks who think any time you disagree on ANYTHING (the taste of celery not excepted) you're attacking them personally. it's hard not to respond in kind when they get personal and nasty. that's when i use the block feature. g

Where would you go on vacation in the fall with a friend who lives in Saudi Arabia?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

italy. i have been to dubai. i do not recommend it. g

For those who think the events in the Bible are all 100% literally true, there are some major ...

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

um, we know. you do know we're, like, not theists here, right? g

Atheism is not an affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question ...

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

that is more or less how i see it. i have to admit i am not horribly concerned with labels, though they can be quite useful at times. i choose atheist, rather than agnostic, because to me (not saying it has to seem this way to anyone else) agnostic seems too much on the fence. i really don't see a "maybe" about it; i am not wondering whether there's a god any more than i am wondering whether i am going to grow an eleventh finger. it seems neither likely nor even possible, nor even worth wasting my time over. that being said i do enjoy talking to people who also hold no gods, for whatever reason and to whatever degree, if only for the relief (well, most of the time!) from being constantly blessed and condemned and told i'm going to be prayed for, or going to hell, or cannot be a good person, or am doing damage of some kind to someone's sensitive deity, or.... well, you know. i suspect that is at least part of why we're here. i'm not here to reaffirm my lack of belief or get support for it or anything like that. i've been an atheist since i was 15, and that was a loooooong time ago. oh, and i wander a bit. did i mention i wander a bit? i wander a bit! g

How does this work?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

snoop around, find stuff you'd like to respond to, and eventually you may want to post on your own too. when you click the agostic dot com link in the upper lefthand corner of the page, you'll get to a kind of home page (not your profile -- that's different, and by the way, that can keep you busy for a couple minutes!) and you can scroll down and see, on the left, lists of categories. on the right you can see some posts that might intrigue you. click, snoop, enjoy! g

Theists, what do you think of the multi-millionaire prosperity gospel pastors? Crooks or angels?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

you're addressing theists here? i don't think we have a whole lot of them on this site. g

Some atheists I have come across who call themselves agnostic, when pressed, argue that an assertion...

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i am not accommodating with any of it but if you see that tooth fairy, please tell her that quarter she has owed me since the early 1960s is accruing interest. g

Love everyone! That is a message which doesn't depend on religion, but is a basic, primal need.

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i can't love everyone. i can love humanity in a general way, but love every individual? that's ridiculous. should i love charles manson? hitler? trump? i don't THINK so. it's just as dehumanizing to love everyone indiscriminately as it is to hate everyone indiscriminately. g

TAROT Card reading

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

i have given tarot readings. the cards are not magic; they're just cards. however, they're designed to evoke... how shall i put it? not exactly empathy, and not psychic powers, for sure. just... intuition, that's it. intuition. a good tarot reader can use the cards (or pretty much anything, but the cards are nice and colorful and have universal symbols on them so they're particularly useful) to draw out the other person's feelings and concerns. as i say, the cards are not magic, the procedure isn't magic, and putting your faith in some kind of predictive quality to them, or ability to the reader, would be foolish and superstition. at worst they're interesting and fun (i think a lot of people who don't know what they're doing, or are not intuitive by nature, may use them as some kind of scam), but at best they are an interesting tool. think of them as a different kind (and application) of rorschach test (i am too lazy to look that up so i hope i spelled that right!) g

What is your explanation?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

first of all, define "soul." not everyone has the same definition, and not every would relate it to the kind of experiences to which you refer. in addition, not everyone's near-death experiences are the same. i have not had one so i have nothing to explain, and i don't think i am capable of explaining other people's internal experiences. our brains operate on a kind of electricity but i am neither a doctor nor a scientist. i also have not met any of these people, and all sorts of people say all sorts of things, not all of which are accurate. even if i had met any of them, i still could not be inside their heads. g

How and where did we get life/soul? What'd happen to it after our death?

genessa comments on Sep 12, 2018:

we don't know for certain, from a subjective point of view, what happens after death, but by all indications, from an outside view, nothing. we die. it's over. asking where we got our souls when not everyone agrees on what a soul is, much less whether they exist, isn't likely to get you a definitive answer. lots of people have ideas about it; no one KNOWS. as for how we got life, that is a complex thing that can't be answered easily in a post less than a mile long, but i suggest that you read a little about the human brain if you're equating life with consciousness (they don't mean the same thing) and if not, then read something technical about how humanity evolved. g

Does it give you a lift to start taking antibiotics?

genessa comments on Sep 11, 2018:

nope. it might give me a yeast infection if they give me the wrong ones, though! but yeah, you have every reason to be hopeful, and i wish you the best! g

Well, we just got home from the Oncologist and mom is officially cancer free! This is some good news...

genessa comments on Sep 11, 2018:

mazel tov, and mazel tov (it means congrats AND good luck!) and i have been seeing so much garbage lately about gratitude and how we should all be grateful, without any mention of to WHOM to be grateful, it is wonderful to see an expression of gratitude to the folks who deserve it: the docs and nurses! g

Spoiled brat with a participation trophy...

genessa comments on Sep 11, 2018:

you'd think his trophy wife would be enough. g