For once, no dreams.

At least none I remember.  Not a whole lot of sleep, either, but whatever, that happens.

Let's see, what else do I have to report about my life right now?  "Extra garlic powder is absolutely amazing in pork ramen" does not seem like a particularly stimulating bit of news, but I am rather pre-occupied with the notion at the moment.  Mmm.

Writing is going well.  I'm still behind, but I'm catching up.  Over quota every day.

Monetarily things are... provisionally okay.  No disasters, but no further relief.  Not much luck on the job-hunting front, either, except for little temp things like more pharmaceutical studies.  If I can find something better this month, things will be fine. 

The cat is a delightful streak of nuisance.  Megan is wonderful and snarky and lovely, and as ever, a perfect match for me.

The Republican presidential primaries are by turns amusing and alarming, and at the moment they are my favorite spectator sport.

Reading is going slowly, but another book review will come soon.

I dunno, I have a lot of trivial recap but not a lot of substance to discuss.

More later, if the spirit so moves me.

Unlocal.

Sometimes online job-hunting sites are frustratingly useless.  I have a couple jobsearch engines configured to send me jobs suitable to my qualifications within fifty miles -- but I regularly get notices of jobs in Duluth, St. Cloud, the Twin Cities, and Bismarck.  Frustrating....

Today, I got notification of an opening in Zurich.

Religious meanderings and a question for atheists.

So, over on John Scalzi's blog he's got an interesting post about the American persecution of atheists.  Like him, it's something I've seldom seen for myself; but like him, I'm chock-full of privilege and may simply be blind to it.  In liberal, academic, intellectual circles, it seems to me that atheism and Christianity both have some degree of privilege and both have some negative stigma, but I can only really speak for the Christian side of that, because that's what I see.  So I wondered:  if you feel like talking about it, O Atheists Of My Acquaintance, would you care to weigh in about anti-atheist bias and how it's affected you?  Are there areas, geographically or socially, where the stigma is greater or less?  In your experience, are there contexts where atheism is privileged rather than punished?

Additionally, in case it's relevant to the discussion in any way, I want to repost the comment I made in Scalzi's discussion threads, after reiterating my own privilege and lack of perspective.


At one time, although briefly, I was openly first an atheist and then a pagan in a small, close-minded town, and the only flak I ever caught for it was from my Dad (and my Dad has always given me flak for everything, so that doesn't count).

Currently, I identify strongly as both a Christian and an agnostic (my usual phrasing is “heretical heterodox Christian agnostic.”). I believe in a Deity, but I believe just as strongly that neither I nor anyone else can pretend to be sure. I’m also very strongly secularist; I think my religion is between me and Presumed Deity, and should stay the Hell out of everyone’s public policy except inasmuch as it informs their personal values and convictions. (I think the Founding Fathers were with me on this one. And Roger Williams.)

When it comes to proselytizing and evangelism, what I tell people is that yes, I do it to everyone I meet, all the time. ‘You Will Know They Are Christians By Their Love,’ after all. That, and as an anonymous source I call not-Francis-of-Assissi said “Preach the Gospel always. If necessary, use words.” My actions should be sufficient to show people my faith. If they are not, then I need to work on myself before I’m fit to minister to others.

I’m happy to talk about my faith whenever, of course (example: what I am doing right now!), but it’s not for me to decide when to start that conversation. People who are genuinely curious about my faith or religion in general raise the subject eventually. People who are not, don’t. And since I’m one of them blasphemous Christian Universalists, I believe we’re all going to Heaven eventually anyway, and there’s no urgent need to talk y’all around as long as you aren’t egregiously misbehaving by any ethical standards.

While tagging 'theology' posts...

... I found one from last year that went up on LJ but not on dreamwidth.  Here.  For indexing purposes, my thoughts on organizational principles of the universe, sort of.  If it interests anyone who hasn't seen it before, feel free to discuss here or there.