Getting Down with Kongqiu

I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam – good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system. 

~ Gore Vidal, At Home: Essays 1982-1988

 I agree with Gore – like TOTALLY. I’ll add that, while there are good, decent monotheists, each religion, particularly white Christians, have WAY more than their fair share of murderous terrorists and flat out assholian fuckwads in their ranks.

Confucianism, a Western term that has no counterpart in Chinese, is a worldview, a social ethic, a political ideology a scholarly tradition, and a way of life. Sometimes viewed as a philosophy and sometimes as a religion, Confucianism may be understood as an all-encompassing way of thinking and living that entails ancestor reverence and a profound human-centered religiousness. East Asians may profess themselves to be Shintōists, Daoists, Buddhists, Muslims, or Christians, but, by announcing their religious affiliations, seldom do they cease to be Confucians. (source)

Confucius said heaven and the afterlife were beyond human capacity to understand, and one should therefore concentrate instead on doing the right thing in this life. (source)

More stuff with which I totes agree.

There’s NO way to RILLY know what, if anything, is on the other side of this existence.  That’s why I’m a proud agnostic. While the Christian New Testament has a shit-ton of good guidelines for living, I just don’t need to hold onto, essentially, fairy stories in order to live my life honorably and decently. Do you need to believe that some celestial being(s) is watching over you and will send you to a post-life pit of continual fire if you’re not “good” in this life? Do you need to believe you’re headed for Happy Cloud Land in order to get through the pains and horrors of this life  ?

As Kurt Vonnegut said:

“There’s only one rule that I know of, babies – God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”

Also too:

“She was a fool, and so am I, and so is anyone who thinks he sees what God is doing."