Jesus, if he existed, was a man who most definitely embodies what we would call today a progressive hippie. He went against the organized rules of the corrupt church of the time, and he helped to spur a newer (by the standards then), more open-minded field of thought.

He was allegedly killed for it, and now these idiots are spewing hate, ignorance and condemnation in his name. I would be okay with the pastors and priests preaching it if they preached to teach, and not to convert or conform people when it comes to the Christian teachings. The problem today is that many preachers have stopped preaching to teach, and have mostly gone on a crusade to convert all of today’s society into the pseudo-christers we see on Fox News (and in many members of the Republican party). The problem with that way of thinking is that they end up twisting the lessons, the words and the truly informative parts of the Bible (in moral, social, and philosophical standards, that is) to the point where the sermons have become a “convert or die!” mentality.

The unforeseen irony is that this same insane oppression, especially in some of the more “Christian” states, is exactly what Jesus (allegedly) fought against. It gets to the point where not only are these “representatives” of religion trying to incorporate their beliefs into our government (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.), they are also trying to force their specific beliefs on each other. For instance, mission trips to other countries: We see eager young lads valiantly diving into the African jungles to preach (to convert, and not to teach) their beliefs to other people who do not believe as such. Why try to change their thoughts and beliefs when you could study them, learn from them, and see that the theological perspectives around the world really aren’t all that different. No matter what God or gods or forces of nature people believe in, why fight over which is right? None of them are proven to have existed at all (save for that “special feeling” that people feel when they think that they are contacted by God/Allah/Yahweh/etc.), and they are all practically the same.

You may not think so, but have you really tried looking at the other religions? Have you really tried to view all religions, even your own with an eye of skepticism and intellectual inquiry? A lot of these people haven’t, and so they end up not only fighting against scientific facts, they also end up fighting each other. For me, religion served its purpose to start exercising the grey matter in our brains. It helped to get us thinking, and to get us to organize, congregate, and help get us along the next few stages of the evolutionary pathway. But as the oar and boat help us to get across the river to the other side, it will not serve a purpose on the land on the other side. So we end up burning the wood of the boat, putting it to better use. Now that we are across the river, per se, we now have to build a fire with the wood we have. In the case of religion, we can still teach and study it, but to take it literally and as a universal truth, that is not progress. That is regress, and regress is only temporary. Progress marches onward, and becomes stronger each time, like the waters that are trapped behind a dam. Regress, while it may hinder progress, is only temporary, and as the times go on, it gets weaker and weaker. Eventually, the dam will break, and it will become overwhelmed by the waters that progress throughout time.

So we see a funny little hidden meaning in the words, progress and regress. When it comes to the word egress, however . . . well, death is the only answer to that, and no one has truly come back from complete death yet.