I was reading Tao Te Ching, written by Lao Tzu over 2500 years ago, and it’s pretty amazing how applicable some of it is today. One of my favorite verses said to treat all of your problems as opportunities, and that is the quickest way to having no […]
Last night Bill O’Reilly named the five most religious and five least religious states in America. Among the most were Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; the least, Washington, New Hampshire, and Maine. He then went on to proclaim that spirituality is good. Why? It would be one thing if […]
Many religious people have told me that they despise the theory of evolution because it tells us that we are mere animals. First, it is important to note that how much you despise evolution, or how much I love it, says absolutely nothing about whether it is true […]
A few weeks ago, this Christian I know was going through a rough patch over some drama, and he said that he was grateful because this was God gave him opportunities to better himself (learn to deal with the adversity of the situation). What a great attitude. I […]
It’s common for guys in here to hate being yelled at, having the officers tell them what to do, and so on. “I don’t like people barking orders at me,” they say. Well, who does? I know I don’t. The point is, however, is that there are times […]
So I read something by a Christian author; he was repeating the nonsense cliche that atheism automatically leads to nihilism, and that it’s “frightening” because people aren’t prepared for a worldview in which their own values determine everything. I found that one of the most arrogant things one […]
I try to be thankful everyday for my life in this place. Because although prison is awful, and I unabashedly hate it, things could be much worse. I was at Clallam Bay in the 90s, a much worse prison, more like people out there think of when they […]
So Alabama became the 37th state to allow gay marriage … but of course a lot of the districts defied the federal court mandate and weren’t allowing the couples to wed anyway. In the deep south, no way! 🙂 I just can’t understand why people CARE so much. […]
The problem with pride in prison is that so many guys in here are proud for the wrong reasons. Racial pride is number one, or some other gang- or group-related pride. Or pride in their criminal life. Incessant bragging is always on display, despite that where you are […]
A lot of times when I hear guys in here talk about their lot in prison, they proclaim some version of the following: “They took my pride, my dignity, my self-respect.” First of all, who is “they?” “They” are the people doing their jobs by locking up and […]
In prison the negativity and is pretty much impossible to avoid. Whether it’s just a person being spiteful or ignorant or cruel, it’s a constant part of the landscape. And sometimes it’s difficult to avoid thinking that way yourself. At least it has been for me at times. […]
Oneproblem with getting one’s moral framework from a religion is that religions, not using the scientific method or being overly concerned with facts, take FOREVER to change. The Catholic Church was still issuing the blood libel against Jews (the idea that Jews used the blood of Christian babies […]
I think the natural state of almost every prisoner is to complain. About everything having to do with prison. I know I used to do it constantly, and I have to admit, looking back, most of it was for bullshit reasons. I’ve found that when you take full […]
Because of the celebrity-fad, mysticism, and junk science over vaccinations, America is now seeing outbreaks of diseases that were wiped our years or decades ago. Some of these inclusive schools in California are said to have only around 50% of their kids vaccinated. Half, which is around the […]
Last night on the news I heard a Repubican (Rand Paul) talking about how drug laws are unfair to minorities, and how they need to be reformed across the board, and that marijuana laws need to be changed as well. What a nice change, and what a testament […]
One of the things that I had to change about myself was to realize that I was even capable of change, that my mind was capable of doing what was necessary to improve my life. And the first step in that was rejecting all authority. It didn’t matter […]
I don’t follow any sports and so I don’t really care about the Superbowl (I realize that I’m an oddball in that regard, haha). In fact pretty much the only thing it means to me is a lot more noise because of all the excitement. But I do […]
So many times throughout the years I’ve heard messages of powerlessness from guys in here. I had no choice, it was how I was raised. I had to hit him, he called my girlfriend a bitch. It was my anger, it was my pride, so I had no […]
One of the common misconceptions about atheism is that people think you choose it as a way of evading responsibility. Especially if you’re in prison. “Oh, you just want to avoid ultimate judgement,” they say, “so you refuse to believe it.” Nonsense, of course. I have no problem […]
The cases of measles and whooping cough have been higher lately than they’ve been in decades, and now you have this measles outbreak from Disneyland. This caused by the recent reluctance of parents to vaccinate because of fear of the danger of vaccinations. This is a perfect example […]
One of the counterintuitive things about doing time (at least it has been for me) is that in a way, it’s actually gotten harder over the years. I’ve been down 18 years, and have less than 2 left, but there are new challenges. Years ago, when I was […]
Earlier I was talking about an authority being a bad reason to believe something. Any authority: God, social, government, etc. I think this is especially the case for morality, for what is right and wrong. It’s important to discover and believe for ourselves what is right and wrong, […]
I was very religious as a child, and even when I came to prison in 1997, at 18 years old, I still believed that Jesus had died for my sins and that the Bible was at least mostly true and the world’s one true moral guide. Some Christians […]
It never fails. I’ve been in prison for 18 years, and eery single January, on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I will either overhear or be told directly: “Happy James Earl Ray Day.” (James Earl Ray was MLK’s murderer.) Very nice. Let’s celebrate the cold-blooded murder of a […]
It’s common for people to say something like: “Atheists don’t have anything to live for, because they believe in nothing.” Well, Ricky Gervais has a nice response to that: “We have nothing to DIE for, so we have EVERYTHING to live for.” 🙂 It’s a good point. I […]
One of the most common things you here inside is: “What’s the hurry? You got nothin but time.” Guys will sleep 12 hours a day (this is called doing “half-time”). The point is to waste as much time as possible, to whittle your sentence down. But I’ve found […]
I just attended an award ceremony for our job here in prison, where inmates workers were recognized for their committments to the job. There were many civilians there, as well as Michael Santos, a man who did 25 years in prison and now spends his time going back […]
In polls, atheists are often the least trusted minority in America. Why? The Bureau of Prisons just found that while nonbelievers make up about 15% of America, they only make up two-tenths of 1% of inmates. Christians, on the other hand, are 80% of the country and make […]
The mass murders in France over the last few days are the result of what happens when people place their religious morality over actual morality that is based on human values. Radical Muslims were upset that someone insulted their prophet, so they killed 17 people. And to make […]
The idea of finding God in prison is a cliche. Paris Hilton said she read the Bible during her stay in jail. Michael Vick said religion helped him with his tendency to run brutal dog fights. A prisoner would be a fool to admit being an atheist at […]
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