Holding onto faith

I love my kids. I'd do anything for them. So when my son and his girlfriend were leading an initiative to give Christmas presents to the homeless in the city and needed volunteers, I was there for him. We gave out clothes, socks, outerwear, cookies, gift cards, and bibles.

I tried to think if I was a homeless person, would a bible be appreciated? I wasn't sure if that was a very practical thing. Would some of them toss it aside? Sell it? Burn it to keep warm? But I learned something interesting.

People in the worst of situations still have faith.

I was the driver, so mostly it was the kids who jumped out of the van to distribute the gifts. I tried to discretely take photos, so as to not invade the privacy of the homeless. What I saw and photographed really moved me, and changed my opinion on distributing bibles. I saw these young people hold hands and pray with the homeless. It was beautiful. Then they hugged them. The homeless people smiled and waved as we left.

We came upon a woman who stated that she was "homeless and not ashamed." I wish I had gotten out of the car to talk to her a bit, but I wasn't in a parking spot to do so. She was very friendly and I would have liked to have known her name and her story on how she became homeless. The kids asked her if she wanted a bible, but she proudly stated that she already has one.

Then there was Terry. A vibrant, outgoing, funny, smart young man. I'm not sure his story was entirely true, but he interacted with the kids by telling jokes and reciting passages from the bible. He also said that God has plans for us and gives us challenges to overcome. We had a prayer circle, with him leading it. I didn't pay much attention because the skeptic in me was keeping one eye on the van and our personal belongings.


I learned that there are so many people who are Christian and homeless. They could easily turn away from God, because if he existed, why would he allow them to suffer? But they hold onto their faith. They have nothing else. If it gives them hope and comfort, let them have that.

Mean, snarky atheist

My kids did something wonderful. They and their friends gathered at their church to wrap gifts to distribute to the homeless in a nearby city. This was a Saturday night, a few days before Christmas. They wrapped clothes, socks, outerwear, and bibles with gift cards inside. Yes, bibles.

I had my doubts about the value of giving out bibles to people who need so much more than a book to carry around, and perhaps the money could be spent in a more useful way. But, this mission was not mine, so I kept my thoughts to myself, and helped them with their wrapping.

I take photos of everything, so they weren't surprised when I posted photos of their wrapping party on Facebook for all of them to see. My atheist nephew left a snarky comment. I did not appreciate it. I immediately removed it and sent him a private message as to why, and to also ask him to refrain from posting snarky messages when it came to something related to my kids (his cousins).

We messaged back and forth for a bit, as you can see if you click on the image. He is what I'd refer to as a mean, snarky atheist (MSA). And my question is... why? Belittling and criticizing others' beliefs will certainly not shame them into turning atheist. They will not suddenly start questioning their beliefs or the bible. It will not change things!

A few days later, I was at a family event with the MSA nephew. I knew his mom and sister (both Catholics) were listening nearby. MSA nephew said he thought my daughter (also atheist) and I were doing it right by being "nice" atheists. He is still angered by religion in general, and thinks there is no value in it.

But I brought up a good point. There are millions of people in the world who walk the straight and narrow BECAUSE of the fear of God. If you take religion away, they will not have any fear in doing bad things or hurting others. Personally, I LIKE having religion, and the belief in God in this world because it keeps ME safer. True, there are those who commit acts of violence in the name of religion, but that number is far less than those "good" people who do good things in the name of God.

I really hope I gave MSA nephew something to think about.

Removing God

The initiative to take God out of schools started when Madalyn Murray O'Hair (founder of the American Atheists Organization) filed a lawsuit claiming it was unconstitutional for her son to participate in prayer and bible readings in school. It was ruled on June 25, 1962, that prayer was no longer permitted in the schools.

The aftermath of one of the deadliest school shootings brings up the question, "Should God have been taken out of the schools?"

I wasn't there when this decision was made. I went to Catholic schools all my life, so it didn't affect me. I had to research when this occurred, and was surprised it happened before I was even born.

If God was never taken from the public schools, would the world be a better place? You could argue that, yes, it would be, because the righteousness of God would be ingrained on a daily basis. If the parents weren't praying with their kids at home, at least they were praying in school.

But why should it be up to the school? Ultimately, it is up to the parents to ensure that their children are following a Christian life.

America is a melting pot of different races and beliefs. I can see why it's important not to shoehorn kids into the Christian routines of prayer and bible readings. I don't understand why religion can't exist.

Prayer chains

Do they work?

The largest prayer chain in the history of the universe is not going to bring back those sweet little children. It is not going to heal the bereaving survivors any sooner. There will be no sense of peace when the parents wake up on Christmas morning to a silent house.

Many people are heartsick over the shooting of those kindergarteners. They are not our kids, but we can imagine how we'd feel if we were their parents. And just knowing how delicately we hang on the balance between life and death... well, it's a scary thing. It can happen to any of us.

It's an odd thing. People don't like to feel helpless. They don't like to feel fear. So they pray. They pray to a loving God who had a purpose for those children--to make them angels in heaven, to teach the world a lesson, to remind people that he's the badass in charge of this whole piss-pot world.

If I were one of the parents who lost a child, I'd be like, "Hey God, WTF?"

I feel terrible about what happened. I feel scared and helpless too. But I don't pray. I don't believe in prayer, or hope, or fate.

Life is a crapshoot. Today those kids rolled snake eyes.