State of Protest

Procrustes. Editor in Chief, author, owner, depreciator of State of Protest

Procrustes has a B.A. degree in Latin and a double minor in classical civilizations and philosophy.

Procrustes also has a J.D. degree from a top-tier law school, and works for a prominent law firm.

When Procrustes was ten, he fell from a two-story building, breaking both of his wrists, knocking out his front teeth, and bloodying up the concrete. It was then that Procrustes saw the light. Actually, no, it was quite dark. But it was rather painful when the doctor had to set his wrists by bending them backwards till his fingers touched his forearm. Blinding white light, indeed. None of it, however, was spiritual.

Procrustes was raised loosely in the Methodist church tradition of going to church just about every Sunday, mostly because his grandmother went, and his parents were too afraid to argue. Procrustes started asking questions about god and Jesus at a very young age. Once, when he was about five years old, Procrustes asked his mother, “Mom, is God real?” His mother responded, “What do you think?” He replied, “I think there’s a god.” His mother smiled and said, “Then there’s a god.” This was a catalyst for his independent thought and skepticism. His mother had given him the go-ahead to think how he wished, and to ask questions without being embarrassed or threatened. Although Procrustes continued to believe in some sort of god for many years later, he understood the importance of research, facts, and doubt.

Eventually, Procrustes became a full-fledged atheist (or at least what most today would call an atheist, as someone who has no good reason to believe in the existence of a god, so therefore does not). Passive, but inquisitive at first, Procrustes learned much about religion and philosophy in college. Needing an outlet for the passion that built up inside him, fired by the knowledge that the dogmatic masses constantly threaten human life, he decided to change his state from passive to an active state of protest.

With any luck, activism will spread, and perhaps in his lifetime, Procrustes will see some progress.

Chapter II: For those who want more, more, more

Procrustes tends to like the Frank the Bunny avatar, based on the character in the amazingly amazing Donnie Darko movie. You really have to see it. Really.

Have you seen it yet? Okay, well, you can continue I guess.

The pseudonym “Procrustes” is based off of an ancient Greek mythological legend of the giant Procrustes, who waylaid travelers and then forced them to sleep in his bed. Being the hospitable type, Procrustes insisted that the bed fit the visitor. Being the callous and cruel type, Procrustes also insisted that the guest be the one who suffered the “adjustment.” Procrustes would either hack off a certain length of the guest’s legs, if too tall, or would stretch the guest on the rack, if too short.

Why, you ask, would I choose such an intolerable character as my pseudonym? The name represents an aspect of religion and thoughtlessness that spurns me to fight. It’s a metaphor for cherry-picking whatever biblical or other scriptural passages suit the religious, abandoning the others as their own metaphor or as misinterpretations by non-believers, while at the same time claiming the entire work is divine, perfect, and inerrant, justifying the religious way of life, and justifying some of the most heinous acts of cruelty this world has ever seen. Today, that thoughtlessness threatens lives and stifles free speech by condemning anyone who speaks out against religion. That mentality holds that religion is somehow more protected than the right to defy it.

The name is also deeper on a philosophical, theological level. It’s a metaphor for the god of the gaps concept that anything left unexplained by science must, by default, be god. It’s “fitting” a natural world into a god-shaped hole. It doesn’t fit. But so many people so desperately want it to that they will fight to the death to make sure no one argues with their right to do so. That’s delusional. Having these people running the planet is akin to letting the deaf, dumb, and blind disabled man be the engineer of your passenger train — as long as the man claims to believe in god, it’ll be okay.

Procrustes can be contacted at procrustes@stateofprotest.com

Philadelphic - Mysterious and unwilling (unable?) to submit a personal profile co-author and editor

Mutha - Author and volunteer editor

Mutha is a mother of two, and pays the bills as an analyst for a large hospital system in Houston, Texas. Having lived in Houston since the age of two, she is quite in love with the diverse city. All children are beautiful to Mutha. She enjoys music, stimulating conversation, movies, and smiling.

In her early teenage years she attended confirmation class in the Methodist church. She hoped that maybe the classes would shed some light on the concept of the Trinity, what it really meant. She was disappointed. She thought that perhaps she was just not smart enough to understand this concept. She waited several years, hoping that maybe she would “get it”. She never did.

At the age of sixteen, Mutha’s sister was killed in a car accident. She still misses her sister, who would have been forty this year. She hopes to never experience the pain of losing a child that is still felt by her own parents. This loss strengthened the bond with her parents, with whom she lived throughout college.

While in college, she had an awakening in her Philosophy 1301 class. Her white suburban Protestant thinking changed — she was now open to the possibility of questioning her religious beliefs. And she did question. She threw out the notion that the Christian Trinity was possible. She began reading books about spirituality and the history of God. She felt for a few years that there was “something”, perhaps something supernatural. In 1994, Mutha married her atheist husband at her parents’ Methodist church. Not having a spiritual “home” at the time, the religion of her youth felt comfortable. Comfortable, but not “right”. Her next step was attending a Unitarian Universalist church, a very welcoming sort of folk, and the religious education program included world religions. She thought perhaps she had found a spiritual home. However, as her questioning and search for knowledge continued, her skepticism and search for evidence only had one logical conclusion for her: god is not real.

Contact Mutha at mutha@stateofprotest.net

Laura - Author of Religions Unearthed series

Laura is a native Californian currently living in the lively downtown area of Long Beach. In addition to writing, Laura enjoys singing, writing music, knitting, making creatures out of tissue paper, camping, hiking, and reading, lots of reading.

Laura was raised as a Mormon and began asking questions (and receiving unsatisfactory answers) as a small child. By her teens, she identified as agnostic and threw herself into the pursuit of truth, absorbing as much information as she could. As her eyes were opened more and more to the irrationality of religion, she began to embrace the label of atheist. She continues to be fascinated by the machine that is religion and strives to do her part to keep it out of our government and hopefully, to influence future generations to be just a little less superstitious.

Laura can be contacted at laura@stateofprotest.net

Absinthium - Artiste

Absinthium takes her name from the species name of the wormwood plant (Artemisia absinthium). Thujone, the ingredient that has long been believed to be the hallucinogen in the controversial alcoholic beverage, absinthe, is derived from this plant. Absinthe has been banned in various parts of the world at different times, although it was the elixir that inspired the creative minds of Arthur Rimbaud, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Latrec, and many others. Its prolonged usage has been linked to dementia as well as other maladies, and it fell out of favor largely during the religiously-fueled Temperance movement. Many of these claims have been disproved as time marches on, and absinthe is currently enjoying something of a revival. Her fascination with this drink and its long, rich history is rooted in the fact that it serves as a fine analogy for her own life. While she is often misunderstood and her ideas are frequently shunned by the status quo, it hardly changes or sullies her true nature. Time will, with much effort and perhaps some luck, shape the minds and opinions of society, and a greater demand for the truth will emerge from the fog of mythology and unfounded beliefs. At least, that is her hope, and the aim of much of her efforts.

In addition to being a recovering Christian, (er, “atheist,”) Absinthium is an animal lover and one helluva vegan cook. Absinthium is a lover of science, an avid music fan, and an appreciator of artistic expression in all its forms. She is fascinated by the Victorian era, and often wishes she had a way-back machine. She is an unabashed lover of men, women, any and everyone in between and/or outside. She collects tattoos, buttons, thrift store trinkets, tin lunchboxes, postcards, and collections. She enjoys education for education’s sake. She is fascinated by human behavior, and hopes to one day understand it, too. She currently understands the value of questioning what she is told is FACT™, and relying on her better judgement as opposed to taking someone’s word for it. She has a terrible problem with authority and any party that attempts to curtail her free thinking nature and/or smiley time. She is a fantastic listener, and hears the phrase “wow, I’ve never told anyone that before!” quite often. She feels she has been entrusted with a special gift for bearing the emotional burden of others and showing limitless compassion. Except to the willfully ignorant.

When not making with the clackety-clackety sounds via the keyboard and basking in the life-giving glow of her computer monitor, she can be found at a museum, a concert, somewhere out in the pseudowilderness, at a flea market, or watching documentaries about serial killers on her couch.

Writing in the third person about oneself is weird.

FormerFundy - Contributing author

Name: Greg Cope
Age:30
Married; 2 boys ages 5 and 2

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mrgregcope

I am in the USN, and I think every 18 year old should consider joining the military (any branch). If you decide no, so be it. But at least consider it.

I enjoy mathematics and chess among other things.

I was raised in a Fundamental Baptist home, and until very recently I was a definite believer that, among other things, the Earth was about 6k years old, all miracles in the Bible literally occurred, God is omni-max, KJV is the inspired English language Bible(the rest are inspired to, just inspired by SATAN{rimshot}), and many other things that require contortions beyond belief just to even remotely sustain.

I recently realized something profound. I no longer have all the answers. But I definitely have a lot less questions that have no answers. If God gets removed from the picture, everything actually makes more sense. Everything comes into focus, without jumping through hoops.

One of my now favorite Bible verses is this 1st Corinthians 14:33 which reads in part God is not the author of confusion.

If God is not the Author of confusion, then there would be no confusion, since God authors everything. Since there is indeed confusion, there must be no god.

Light switch. Paradigm shift.

I don’t have all or even most of the answers.

I don’t even know most of the questions.

I know, even stronger than you believe, that the Christian God is simply a myth. Other than that, I am still working on it.

Spider - Contributing author