Good stuff and the concept of faith

rozk has a very good rant on the history of homosexuality, church and power over on her journal. Go read.

On a completely unrelated topic, she says she lost her faith because of disagreements with the general state of the church and so on. Which is... interesting. I was raised basically atheist, though going to schools that would have prayers and hymns in the mornings. On one level, I was told about this god, this all-powerful being, that you were meant to think of in the happy shiny way. On the other, I was raised completely and utterly without faith. So I saw this stuff being advertised at school, and went 'whuh?' Me and my family and religion are like oil and water. Faith, religious faith's basically an alien concept. The most we ever had faith in was football. Sure, I've read the mish-mash of texts and superstition and old legends thrown together that got called the book. I can argue the details, and have done, with religious studies teachers. Read a fair few sets of legends and things describing faith in all kinds of stuff. But it's still an alien concept. I don't get it, in any shape or form, and when I see people who have faith, I wonder. What they see in it, how they have it. Because I know damn well I don't have faith in anything, and don't see any point in the future, where I could ever, because I'll always be standing on the sidelines, poking holes in the articles. Even when I've written fic with characters with faith, they always have the only faith I could ever imagine having. Best summed up the Pratchett line 'I don't believe in gods, it would be like believing in the postman.'

In response to beta appreciation day...

That'd be a big *mwah* and a nekkid Paul Bettany (or Sean Bean, it depends on your taste - you're allowed both) to dolores, megolas, kestrelsan, katemonkey, rozk, and mimesere. Chocolate is supplied on request.

Heather, currently with material pinned to her vest, pinning the rest of the top into shape. And after perusing photos, the line 'arrrgh, They're not bloody wearing bras! Must re-pin to take into consideration!' was used...

In other news, go read daegaer's rants on readings of the bible and how they're taken completely out of context.

Plu. Saw Finding Nemo today. It's cute, but hasn't got the sheer brilliance shown by Toy Story 1 and 2 and Monsters Inc. Oh, and saw the trailer for the latest non-Pixar Disney, Brother Bear. All I can say is 'ewwwww'. Dammit, Disney, look at what made Lilo and Stitch such a success and take inspiration from that. Also, considering the poster for Peter Pan has gone up in the cinema, I'm surprised that they're not showing trailers for it in the kiddy section. Hmm. Maybe they're showing it with the *adult* trailers... Oh, and every time I see a trailer for Elf, I just sigh in despair. There are no words. Really. And they wonder why American Christmas schmaltz doesn't translate well over in the UK.