I'm quitting the Christian Club.

I don't care much for Christmas customs -- the event just doesn't mean a lot to me.
"That's sad", many people might say.
"It's just your Christian frame of reference that makes you say said", I will reply. Why's that?

I have never been a big believer, but until about a few years ago, I would reply when asked about my religion: I'm Christian.

That has changed for a variety of reasons. One of them: the increasingly visible fundamentalism. To me, fundamentalism is equally connected to the Christian religion as it is nowadays attributed to and exemplified with Islam. The crusades of the middle ages, the genocides in various regions of the world (e.g. Australia), the imperialism of new-born Christians in America: while all these things may take place against the 'true' spirit of Christian beliefs, they are carried out by Christians, and the Christian belief of the originators does not keep them from their deeds.

Now, I'm not saying, Christianity is bad per se. Islamic fundamentalists are expressively implerialistic, and you'll find orthodox Jews full off hatred against their neighbors.

The point I'm trying to make here is that empirically, that is, looking at what's happened in the history of mankind, the big world religions have not turned us humans into a better species overall. Religion has never helped us understand to be better people.

Instead, religion has done something else.

The religious framework conditions us to follow rules and think within a predefined, authoritarian framework. This is the system we learn to live in, for better or worse. Follow the authorities, follow the ones you admire. I believe that Prussian thinking is one of the factors in society that ultimately get teenagers to bring machine guns into high schools, palestineans to leave hidden bombs in plastic bags on a crowded bus, millions to march for Hitler or to vote for administrations that spread fear and establish the Orwellian state.

Again: it's not the Christian or any other religion that makes people commit terrible crimes. But religion trains people to use a system of rules to make decisions. Religion gets people to turn of rational thinking in order to follow rules that don't make sense in today's world anymore. Don't eat pork! Don't sleep with your girl/boyfriend! But if you do, don't use condoms! Eat fish on fridays! Be nice to the cow! Wear a headscarf.

Of course, a disclaimer is warranted. There are quite a few smart, courageous and outspoken religious thinkers. But what most liturgies convey, what the Bible and the Quran teach and what the Church dictates and the common people on the street believe couldn't be further from the philosophical debate among the intellectual elite.

So, we have established that I'm not part of that Christian club anymore. In the western world, that's a pretty difficult thing to communicate. Consider a Jew who turns up at a Christian wedding. He'll be well respected. Or, they don't give you a

hard time when you don't eat pork on the plane because you're a Muslim.

But saying: hey, I'm agnostic, or atheist is what gets you sad looks. You're the lonely infidel. Maybe I should find a good term for someone like me. Until then, I'll keep ticking this little checkbox in web forms for your profile. The one that's labelled "spiritual, but not religious".

Television again

As I cast a cursory eye over the Christmas TV listings a few days ago I wondered why we bother with TV at all. To be fair I suppose there was the odd chink of light in an otherwise televisual wasteland of chaff and repeats. For me the highlight of Christmas day would have been the Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of Cindarella, but we had visitors. More in hope than expectation I suggested we switched on the TV and tried to "big up" the ballet, all I got for my efforts was one of Mrs Rackhams looks! However a few minutes later the TV was indeed switched on, yes salvation at last, alas my euphoria was short lived. The TV was switched on because the children wanted to watch that giant of festive classics, The Grinch! I consoled myself with the port and a tin of Quality Street chocs. 

Supermarkets Revisited

Just got back to my desk following an incident in a major supermarket (I wont name them as I intend to write to the manager and this chain should know better).

A young woman had fitted and fallen unconscious in an isle.  I got there a few seconds later and her friends had done everything correctly providing padding during the fit and putting her in the recovery position.  I introduced myself as a  first aider and was told she should be fine as this had happened before

Given her friends knew the drill, for the moment she was fine in the recovery position (not her first fit ever, hadn't reached 10 mins unconscious so no immediate ambulance requirement).  When someone does come round and is postictal, it's better they have someone they know nearby and are not crowded than having an unknown first aider with no uniform on (and of the opposite sex) keeping an eye on them.

Why I Don’t Attend Office Parties

As you face up to the inevitable office party this year, think about the following:

Does this image look familiar?

A company that will spend fifty pounds a head to take you to a tax deductible party but wouldn’t give you fifty pounds a year as a pay rise isn’t really interested in you. Right ? You will get to “enjoy” the company of people that you already spent most of your life around. Most of the people that you work with are not people that you really like. Lets face it, you didn’t fucking choose them, life chose them for you. You get to talk about work. (There’s a great idea.) You have to be careful what you say. Office Politics and all that.

Look, before you call me a grinch, I like working and love my job. Networking is an amazing career choice, full of options, interesting work and good people. Some of them I would even class as friends. But I’m not convinced that going to a party is a good life choice.

Another Rant Before Christmas

We’re nearly there!  Little Johnny almost shitting himself with excitement, the dog/cat is already saving up his innards ready to crap in your Aunts shoes during the Christmas meal, and general madness has taken the nation!

I still blame the Christmas music, of course.  I have songs that I absolutely fucking LOVE that I haven’t heard as many times as some of those bastard songs.

I’m actually sat writing this at work and sniggering because the CD player is skipping like Dale Winton on amphetamines.  It’s just a matter of time until someone turns it off… or I put my earplug back in and put my own Christmas music back on.