– Because it sets limits
– Because it advocates discipline
– Because it embraces judgment
– Because it delineates consequences
– Because it promotes hard work
– Because it encompasses responsibility
– Because it suggests independence
– Because it counsels self-reliance
– Because it emphasizes group and not individual
– Because esteem does not factor

If I were logical but Agnostic, I would advocate religion simply for its tenets of Life Living:

The Ten Commandments (or Decalogue):
1. “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me…” (This commandment is to believe in the existence of God and His influence on events in the world. It prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities.)

2. “Do not make an image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above…” (This prohibits the construction or fashioning of “idols” in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them.

3. “Do not swear falsely by the name of the LORD…” (This commandment is to never take the name of God in a vain, pointless or insincere oath.)

4. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” (the version in Deuteronomy reads shamor, “observe”. The seventh day of the week is termed Shabbat and is holy, just as God ceased creative activity during Creation.

5. “Honor your father and your mother…” The obligation to honor one’s parents is an obligation that one owes to God and fulfills this obligation through one’s actions towards one’s parents.

6. “Do not murder.” Murdering a human being is a capital sin. As with law, there is differentiated murder and killing.

7. “Do not commit adultery.” Adultery is defined as sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his wife. Apparently, as with the White House, blow jobs don’t count either.

8. “Do not steal.” This is not understood as stealing in the conventional sense, since theft of property is forbidden elsewhere and is not a capital offense. In this context it is to be taken as “do not kidnap” as well. These are two entirely different levels.

9. “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.” One must not bear false witness in a court of law or other proceeding.

10. “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife” Sin, quite frankly, is primarily local. One is forbidden to desire and plan how one may obtain that which God has given to another.

This is how atheists see those who believe:

And this is what Wise Europe thinks of the United States:

So tell me a few things, please:

– Tell me how atheism has improved life on this planet.
– Delineate to me how religion diminishes the overall quality of life experienced on this earth.
– Why it is apparent that so many people seem to think that religion needs to be completely abandoned for secularism?

I have my own answers. What are yours?

Which begs another question: What are the tenets of secularism or atheism for living a Good Life?

Or, in a larger context, are the concepts of “good” and “bad” in and of themselves outdated?

BZ

I just came in from lowering our flag to half-staff. Outside it is dark, cold, a light mist. Mirroring the faces of my fellow officers.

At Christmas.

A newlywed wife lost her husband Wednesday of this week, as he bled out on the street, having been shot in the neck.

At Christmas.

My department has had four deputies killed in two years.

Deputies Joe Kievernagel and Kevin Blount died on July 13th of 2005 in a helicopter crash near Lake Natoma. Pilot Kievernagel, having lost power, managed to maneuver the helo away from the heavily populated recreational area just beneath him at the time, which took him into the side of a hill in full view of hundreds of summer swimmers and boaters.

On October 27th of 2006, Deputy Jeff Mitchell was disarmed and shot to death by a suspect following a traffic stop. The suspect is still at large and unknown. Following his killing, my department began furiously installing in-dash camcorders in vehicles. Deputy Mitchell’s car was not so equipped.

And this week, just yesterday, my department lost an undercover narcotics detective. At 37 years old, Vu Nguyen gave up his life for the job he loved. His wife weeps. His family grieves, my department and the community feel the loss.

At Christmas.

Engine 56 and Medic 12 of the Sacramento Fire Department wanted to be anywhere but where they were that day.

Being the first to respond, and hearing that a deputy sheriff had been shot, they threw protocol away. They refused to stage and wait for a suspect to be declared “in custody.” They decided, on their own, they were going into the hot area, a completely unknown area, and they were going to apply state-of-the-art lifesaving techniques to that deputy. A man they didn’t know at all. They didn’t know his ethnicity, his assignment, his religion, his height, his weight. It didn’t matter. He was an American and a law enforcement officer and a fellow emergency responder. That is, literally, all they knew. And that they, like he, had valued and loved wives and children at home. And still they went because, frankly, they didn’t care. That was their job. That’s what they signed up for.

At Christmas.

And what they found was a deputy on top of a chicken coop, shot directly through the front of the neck. The second they placed the leads on him he was in V-fib. And they knew immediately about that 37-year-old deputy, right there. The 37-year-old deputy, Vu Nguyen, who had just gotten married in April of this year. A brand new wife. Who expected her husband back, that day, at the end of his shift.

At Christmas.

Three firefighters climbed into the back of the box rig and headed for the trauma center, performing heroic lifesaving measures. Giving their best. Knowing the truth. Awash in his blood. Vu Nguyen officially died at the hospital in surgery.

And Mrs. Nguyen had to be found, to be notified. Of the death of her husband. By violent gunfire.

At Christmas.

The area became flooded with cops. SSD, SPD, CHP, other local agencies, 100 to 150 officers. Three helos, two SWAT teams, multiple K9 units. Schools were locked down. Anyone callous enough or violent enough or indifferent enough as this killer was certainly capable of finding a child and taking a hostage, or worse.

Finally, many, many hours later the perimeter was taken down. No suspect was in custody.

No one stopped. No one gave up. No one went home. Leads were developed. Evidence documented and collected. Photographs taken. The investigation started. There was a job to do and no one complained or stopped for food or drink. There was only one thought in mind: find the suspect. Take him into custody. Now.

But make no mistake. There were many phone calls made on cells. To loved ones. “That wasn’t me, honey,” was what the bulk of the calls said. Perhaps a little guiltily. But truthfully. Because their wives deserved to know. Now.

People didn’t stop. No one went home, no one slept. More leads were developed. And now, today, there is a suspect in custody.

It is a 16-year-old suspect. A known Asian gangbanger. 5’4″ tall, 130 pounds. Who made his bones and will be spoken of, with reverence, in his own cloistered and demented groups. He made his bones, acquired his respect. Respect that will follow him, in the gangs, in the jails, in the prisons, wherever he goes now. Until he dies. Forever.

In the meantime, we’ll continue with the investigation, collect more evidence, document, process and do what we are tasked with and what we have sworn to do: our jobs.

We’ll don our hats, wear our gloves, a black band over our badges, attend the funeral, watch the motors in the procession. One of our own has fallen.

And then we’ll go back to our jobs, every day. And love our wives, our husbands, hold our kids. Shed tears. Probably clutch and hug our dear ones even harder, closer.

Because life is so precious.

Not just at Christmas.

But all the time.

BZ