So, I got an email from a nice man yesterday. He read my de-conversion story and told me something I have never been told before, at least not this way. He told me I need to reconsider and have a child! Now, I’m 40, so I really don’t see that happening for a myriad of reasons, but the sentiment was so honest and forthright that I was taken aback.
This nice man found HDC and my story and just thought that atheists like me and my husband should have more children. You know, he’s right, in a way. I mean, if you can do it, and you’re a freethinking atheist, then yes, you should consider having a kid or two. Like he said, it would bring a bit more sanity into the world.
Unfortunately people who are more educated, intelligent and rational might think it’s a bad idea. But the movie Idiocracy does make a good point. Mostly people who are sheep, who follow the crowd, who think having unprotected sex is ok because, if they get pregnant it was “meant to be“! (my idiot neighbors told me this… they can’t afford their meager bills and the wife told me she doesn’t even like her husband, but he is “hers” so they might as well have a kid.. OMFG don’t even get me started on those two idiots… they believe drinking Mountain Dew is a good method of birth control! Seriously, WTF!)
I don’t have any specific numbers, but it seems that educated, intelligent people are having less children in Europe and America. While less educated, (more religious?), lower income people (I don’t know a politically correct term that would be better to use. So try not to be offended, ok?) are having more kids. I know that Europe has been dwindling in population, especially in Germany, Italy and other countries. And muslim people are filling up the ghost towns, then immediately going on the Dole over there. That’s what I’ve heard, but I don’t have hard data. (that’s from NPR, from a year ago, so maybe things are different now. But I don’t listen to NPR anymore). Pat Condell is always talking about such things too.
I never saw the movie, Idiocracy. It looked really dumb, but the concept is what I’m talking about. It’s more about I.Q. though, and I’m also talking about education and belief systems. If more atheists raise their children to be freethinkers and critical thinkers, imagine what the next generation would be like instead of what I see when we go out these days?
Since when did it become “cool” to be ignorant? That makes me stark raving crazy mad. I know of only 2 teenagers who seem to value intelligence and they are in my family. Maybe I sound old and crotchety, I don’t know. It just seems that teenagers are having babies, and that everyone is purposefully embracing ignorance and mindlessness.
In my day… (just kidding… but seriously, in my day, it wasn’t like this!)
Ok, it’s getting a bit late, the weekend has been really long, and I’m tired. But I wanted to thank the man for thinking I’d make a good parent. I know I’d raise my kids to be freethinking individuals, even though it’s not very cool.
Maybe you out there can chime in. Are you raising your children to be critical thinkers? How is that going? I imagine with the societal influences and poor education system it must be tough. Then again, am I just out of touch since I’m not a parent? Or did you do what my husband and I did? Did you decide for whatever reason that it would be best not to have kids? As always, I look forward to your thoughts!
I’m reading a book called The God Part of the Brain by Matthew Alper. Mostly, I think it’s a pretty interesting book. (there’s one thing that really bugs me about it, but otherwise it’s a good read). Anyway, he talks about how mystical experiences are found across cultures, which implies that there is a genetic component to them. In other words, every culture in recorded history talks about having mystical experiences so it must be something happening in the brain that is genetic. There must be genes associated with the way the brain works in certain circumstances that cause that phenomenon in people around the world.
