I found this site while reading through an article from T|A. Although I was side tracked from an interesting article about free will, I found it interesting that on the pastafarian (didn’t make up this word myself, that’s what they call themselves apparently) site, there was an article about a minister and his wife facing manslaughter charges for not seeking medical help for their child. What was really interesting is the site’s stand on why they posted the article:

The point I want to make is this: instead of drawing the line between the religious and non-religious, let’s draw the line between the reasonable and unreasonable. Let’s criticize a culture that values faith over reason, rather than religion itself.

Why? We know plenty of religious people and we realize that the majority of Christians do not reject modern medicine for their children. We personally know people who get something positive from their religious communities and yet still act with reason.

These are the people who might believe in some scripture, but they also realize that their faith does a poor job of explaining the natural world. They are not blinded by faith, they are reasonable. We need these people to promote the value of reason within their communities.

I like it. It speaks to me of tolerance, of giving other people the benefit of doing their own thing without ridicule, as long as it doesn’t go off the deep end, of course.

I was born into a country with a largely christian population, was baptized a roman catholic, and all of my friends, save 2, are christians. I find it hard to belittle their religious beliefs since they do find solace in it.