There's been a growing sentiment among some of my fellow atheists, spurred by one Jordan Peterson, around the idea of finding new meaning in religion without all that pesky dogma and superstition. But why would anyone do that? Now, let me first clear my throat by saying that I sympathize with all my fellow primates who are in search of purpose in their lives. What destinations we reach, if we reach any at all, are entirely up to us, as individuals, treading along beaten and unbeaten paths. We're a flawed species and so the way we approach everything will be flawed as well. However, there comes a time when you have to ask yourself if you haven't lost your way in your quest for meaning. I recently watched a thought-provoking video by YouTuber Mouthy Buddha (embedded above). In it, he talks about the failure of atheism to fill the vacuum of values and meaning left by the abandonment of religion. He suggests that one may be misguided in relinquishing the supposedly w...
The tide is turning in America. Long-churning sentiments about guns and gun violence have finally erupted and people no longer accept the tired-old narrative of "let's not politicize this issue". No, let's actually do that for a change. Democracy is a political system. Any issue that concerns democratic citizens is a political issue by default and this includes guns and gun control. People can grieve and respect the victims and the survivors while also calling out for change. These are not mutually exclusive. But whenever a call for change is heard, there's always another call from across the street calling for stagnancy. In this case, it's coming from the 2nd Amendment die-hards. Let me be clear here, I'm not talking about the people who simply want to have a firearm or two for legitimate self-defense. The people I'm referring to are the ones who amass a stockade's worth of armaments as if they're expecting the Queen's f...