Avoiding Extinction
January 1, 2024

At a minimum, we should not live in a way which, if followed universally, would result in the extinction of our species.

Remember this when deciding whether or not to have children.

The Voice of the People
December 16, 2023

A politician who refuses to accept the voice of the people, as expressed through their election results, cannot be trusted with political power.

The World Does Not Revolve Around You
July 19, 2023

Expecting your “identity” or “self-expression” to be treated by others as reality is incredibly arrogant and self-centered.

The world does not revolve around you.

Identities Are Not Innate
July 17, 2023

Identity is neither innate nor immutable. It is a personal belief and is capable of change.

Identities can only legitimately be granted protected class status if they are claimed as religious because religious freedom is the only protection available for unprovable beliefs.

A De Facto Sin
April 29, 2023

Misgendering is a de facto religious sin.

But a sin is only a sin to those who belong to a religion that claims it’s a sin.

For nonbelievers in gender identity, misgendering is not a sin. It’s just describing reality accurately.

The Limitations of Science
April 28, 2023

If you want ultimate truth, find a religion.

If you want objective proof, turn to science; but you must understand the limitations of science. The meaning of life and the nature of ultimate reality are not provable. That is the realm of religion. If anyone claims they can prove such things through science, then know you are dealing with a religious wolf in scientific sheep’s clothing.

The Phrase 'Systemic Racism' Is Deceptive
April 6, 2023

When someone speaks of “systemic racism”, understand that the “system” they are criticizing is a society based on the principles of individual liberty and legal equality. Using the word “racism” to describe this “system” is deceptive. “Racism” implies purposeful action based on racial prejudice. It is false to claim that our “system” of individual liberty and legal equality today is racist.

Yes, some lingering effects of past racism unfortunately still remain; but those who claim we should solve “systemic racism” are claiming that solving the lingering effects of past racism is so important we should set aside the principles of individual liberty and legal equality in order to do so. I completely disagree with this position, which I believe is both unjust and also inevitably destined for failure.

The best—and only—way to justly solve the lingering effects of past racism is the colorblind application of the principles of individual liberty and legal equality. It will not fully solve the problem today, nor tomorrow, but it is the right approach to this, and the right foundation for a free and just society.

Persuasion, not Coercion
April 1, 2023

Honor, virtue, and righteousness are spread through persuasion, not coercion.

My Self-Identity
March 14, 2023

I self-identify as a human with the sufficient wisdom to determine whether or not someone else’s identity is part of provable reality. This identity of mine is based on an internal sense of who I am as a person and is critically important to me.

And using this wisdom, which I identify as having, I have determined that gender identity is not part of provable reality.

Gender identity believers therefore have two legitimate choices:

1. Affirm my identity and agree that gender identity is not part of provable reality.
2. Agree with me that “identity” isn’t a magic backdoor around the burden of proof and they can therefore demand I provide proof of my truth claims.

Alternatively, they could take the illegitimate route of claiming that it’s only possible to use identity to prove truth claims that they believe in, but that would only demonstrate that they are not engaging in this discussion in good faith and instead are trying to use deceit and flawed arguments to force their beliefs onto others.

Psychology and Its Limitations
March 10, 2023

If there actually is a transcendental realm of identity that exists, in the same sense that physical reality exists, then it will not be psychology that discovers it because they lack the means to do so.

Psychology deals with humans and how they interact with reality. A patient’s discomfort about reality is not proof of the supernatural, nor is it proof that reality is not what it seems. It is simply an indication that that particular patient is uncomfortable with reality. If a psychologist is doing their job, they will help their patient come to terms with reality instead of trying to convince the entire world to pretend that reality is something that it isn’t. The entire world is not their patient, nor are we obligated to take part in their patient’s therapy.

Within Secularism, Unprovable Defaults to False
March 6, 2023

The statement “I am transgender” includes unprovable truth claims about reality. Within secularism, unprovable truth claims about reality default to false; therefore, within secularism, the statement “I am transgender” has to be false.

This means that within secularism there are no people who actually are transgender. There are only people who wrongly believe they are.

If those who believe they are transgender wish to remove the adverb “wrongly”, they should claim their belief is religious because religious beliefs are exempt from secularism’s requirement for proof. But religious freedom is a two-way agreement. When you exercise it, you agree that others don’t have to treat your belief as true.

The Attractiveness of Taboo
March 4, 2023

The fact that something is taboo often makes it attractive, and yet humans have an innate need to justify themselves, always believing they are good and therefore what they do must be good as well. And so we force taboo things—which we found attractive because they were taboo—to become normal and thereby lose their taboo, which causes them to lose their attractiveness. Yet there is always something even more taboo to attract us, until we normalize it and are forced to continue our search for more and more extreme pleasures.

If we were wiser, we would allow the taboo to remain taboo.

Provable Reality, Cold and Indifferent
February 17, 2023

Provable reality is cold and indifferent. It doesn’t care about your happiness, your mental health, or what makes you more or less likely to commit suicide. Provable reality simply is. It doesn’t care about you at all, or about me, or about anyone else. As content to rule over a barren rock drifting silently in the void of space as it is to reign over a warm planet teeming with life and intelligence, provable reality simply doesn’t care.

Warmth, love, mercy; purpose and meaning—seek those elsewhere. But if you want that which holds sway in our secular neutrality, that which all can be compelled to accept, then you have met your cold mistress; acquaint yourself with her indifferent grip.

Psychologists Cannot Expect Mass Delusion
February 11, 2023

An expectation of mass delusion is not a valid mental therapy technique. Psychologists have no right to expect the world to “affirm” the gender identity of their patients. Psychology is supposed to be a secular profession. It must be grounded on provable reality. Religious beliefs can—and should—be accommodated, but only if the patient understands that they are religious beliefs and that no one else is obligated to treat them as true. It’s a psychologists job to help their patients come to terms with that reality. Many psychologists today, far too many, are failing miserably at their job.

Psychology's Unjustifiable Intrusion
February 10, 2023

It is no more possible for a psychological therapy session to prove someone is part of a physical category like biological sex than it is for it to prove that Russell’s teapot is orbiting unseen out in space.

Inventing an incorporeal concept like gender identity and claiming it should override a physical category like biological sex is an unjustifiable intrusion into aspects of reality that psychology has no business making claims about.

Psychology and Provable Reality
February 10, 2023

If psychology is not based on provable reality, then it is indistinguishable from religion.

Gender Identity Is Trying to 'Pass'
February 10, 2023

Gender identity is a religious belief trying to “pass” as secular.

Bypassing Proof Through Artifice
February 1, 2023

Creating an unprovable incorporeal concept like “gender” and claiming it overrides a physical concept like biological sex is an attempt to use artifice to bypass the requirement for proof. This must not be treated as legitimate.

Physical, Mental, Emotional
January 31, 2023

Biological sex is a physical category. People are assigned to physical categories based on physical evidence. There is no possible mental measurement that could assign someone to a physical category.

And trying to assign someone to a physical category based on mental health claims (“It makes him happier!”) is an emotional plea, not a rational argument. It ignores the impact this action would have on others. They matter too.

Proof of Failure
January 21, 2023

A psychological study that reports some psychologists made people “happier” with a fantasy than with reality is not proof that that fantasy is true. It’s proof that the psychologists involved utterly failed at their job.

A Secular Right
December 10, 2022

We have a secular right to not treat unprovable beliefs (like gender identity) as true.

Downstream From Sexual Identity
November 30, 2022

Same-sex marriage is downstream from sexual identity. If you dislike the way our society thinks and talks about same-sex marriage, then change the way our society thinks and talks about sexual identity.

A Flawed Perspective
November 26, 2022

It seems to me that one of the chief flaws of progressivism is its absurdly warped sense of perspective. It wastes time swatting at mosquitoes while a grizzly bear is gnawing on its leg.

The Difference
November 25, 2022

The difference between “You should do that” and “I’m going to force you to do that” is the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Gender Identity Is Not a Literal Thing
November 12, 2022

If gender identity is a real literal thing, why would you assume everyone would have the gender identity they want to have? Not everyone has the biological sex they want to have. If gender identity is as real as biological sex, why wouldn’t some also have an unwanted gender identity?

But instead, everyone coincidentally has the gender identity they want to have, and that’s because gender identity isn’t a real literal thing—it’s just a wish, a fantasy. It’s just the expression of someone’s deepest desire, a desire which cannot be granted by reality so we are expected to grant it ourselves despite reality.

Self-Identity Is Inherently Unprovable
September 17, 2022

If a truth claim about reality relies on self-identity, then it is inherently unprovable. Believing in it, therefore, is an exercise of faith.

This applies to both gender identity and sexual identity. Both are based on self-identity and therefore are faith-based, not secular.

Progressivism, You Gullible Fool
July 5, 2021

Oh Progressivism, you gullible fool. In 2016 a woman claims she is a lesbian. Then in 2021 she claims she is a man (and therefore “straight”). And there you are in both cases, nodding your head right along like an idiot, demanding no proof, just taking her word for it. And when 2026 rolls around, what will she claim to be then? What truth claims will she demand you blindly accept? It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, you’ll believe it, you gullible fool.

Oh Progressivism, you gullible fool. You display such faith in something that doesn’t even bother to call itself a religion, like a girl putting out on a date without even being taken to dinner first. “But he loves me! He said he loves me!”

You gullible fool.

Organized Religion vs a State-Backed Faith-Based Movement
March 9, 2021

The reason why the LGBT movement has proven such a challenge to organized religion is because the conflict has wrongly been interpreted as religion vs secularism when it is actually religion vs religion.

Gender identity is a faith-based belief that contradicts provable reality and as such it has no business being anywhere near secularism. Sexual identity, on the other hand, does not currently contradict provable reality because it is only an interpretation of it, so believers in sexual identity have the right to argue for its usage within secular society*, but organized religion has an equal right to be part of that conversation.

This is not creationism vs evolution in early 20th-century America. This is the Huguenots vs the Catholics in 17th-century France. The Huguenots stood little chance against the state-backed religion in their day, and we stand as little chance today unless we correct our understanding of what is actually going on. Organized religion can coexist with science, no problem; but organized religion cannot coexist with a religious movement that misrepresents itself as science in order to gain the official support of the state and effectively become the state-backed religion. We’ve seen this conflict before. We know how it will end.

* [Update 06/16/2021] I went too far in this prior statement. Yes, sexual identity is less egregious a violation of secularism than gender identity because at least it doesn’t directly contradict provable reality like gender identity does, but sexual identity is still an attempt to create an invisible construct that people are expected to believe in based on nothing more than faith in someone else’s words. Yes, you have the right to try to persuade our culture to treat the presence of same-sex attraction as a meaningful part of someone’s being, just like I, in contrast, argue that its presence should be treated as meaningless (because it is). However, you do not have the right to demand everyone believe a truth-claim about yourself that you cannot prove, and sexual identity therefore can never be legitimately used as a way to categorize people within secularism unless empirical evidence is discovered to prove its existence and thereafter that empirical evidence is used to identify everyone’s sexual identity instead of self-identity. But that will never happen because sexual identity, like vampires and werewolves, doesn’t actually exist in provable reality. It is nothing more than a faith-based interpretation of that reality, and everyone, therefore, is justified to reject it in favor of a better interpretation.

Without a Deference to the Rules, There Can Be No Game
March 6, 2021

What is more important, having your favorite team win one specific game, or honoring the rules of the game and thereby allowing future games to take place? There are those who claim that you should fight, fight, fight, never conceding a loss for your team. Always there is some excuse why the game wasn’t fair. Always there is some excuse why the other side cheated. Never was there any intention of honoring the rules if it meant accepting a defeat. If the rules say your team lost, then you condemn the rules. If the referees decide against your team, then you demonize the referees, fighting and fighting to pressure them into overriding the rules and giving your team the win.

But who wants to play a game when neither side will ever concede defeat? In the end, the game stops, replaced by just the fighting, which escalates until one team literally destroys the other.

We have seen this again and again throughout history. A fixation solely on power. An abandonment of principles. It never ends well. Why must we continue to relearn the mistakes of the past? Why can we not accept the wisdom of the dead?

Secularism Needs to Protect Us From Faith-Based Non-Religion
February 27, 2021

Secularism, as it is commonly understood today, is only capable of protecting us from control by organized religion. It isn’t capable of protecting us from control by faith-based non-religion.

This is very troublesome given that we live in a world where an increasing amount of people are abandoning organized religion yet obviously not abandoning faith-based beliefs entirely (Exhibit A: gender identity). Our society, clearly, must reconsider what it understands secularism to be.

Secularism is not non-religion. Secularism is proof. It’s time for society to drop any expectation of antagonism between secularism and organized religion specifically and replace that expectation with a general preference within secularism for proof over faith. Only that principle can protect us from control both by organized religion and also by faith-based non-religion. Only that principle can allow secularism to truly be secularism.

The Protest-Riots of 2020
July 30, 2020

The single image that best captures the essence of the protest-riots of 2020 would be this: A white protester screaming incoherently into the face of a tired black police officer.

And one of the most important lessons I hope everyone is learning from all this insanity is to never, ever, ever vote for a progressive mayor. Because if a city's government isn't willing to protect its citizens and their property from a rioting mob, then the government isn't running the city, the rioters are.

Do Not Judge Based on Skin Color
June 27, 2020

You should not judge anyone based on skin color ... including yourself.

An End to Racial Divisiveness
May 30, 2020

The most effective way to end racial divisiveness is to stop dividing people by race. In other words, to stop categorizing ourselves based on our skin color and to stop thinking of others that way as well. "Us" vs "Them" has been a source of human conflict for as long as we have separated into "Us" and "Them", and the most effective way to end that conflict is to end that separation.

Race is an example of a separation that doesn't need to exist. It is not an important characteristic. We should stop pretending that it's relevant, and we should start ignoring all demands to continue pretending that it is.

A Moral Duty to Help Others
March 23, 2020

We learn through scripture that where much is given, much is required. Another way we hear this phrased in our day is: "With great power comes great responsibility." The underlying truth is that we're expected to put what we've been blessed with to good use: our talents, our time, our energy, our wealth and resources.

We have a moral duty to help others. This responsibility starts within the walls of our own home. From there, with our footing stable, we should reach out, helping our community, our city, our state, our nation, and even, if we're fortunate enough to be able to, the whole world.

This is a duty that cannot be forced. The goodness inherent in it comes from our willing choice to personally sacrifice. Our focus should not be on whether or not others are fulfilling this moral duty. Our focus should be on whether or not we ourselves are.

Nature Doesn't Care If It Offends You
March 7, 2020

Nature doesn't care if it offends you. Nature doesn't care if you wish it were different. Nature simply is. It has been such since long before you were here, and it will continue being such long after you are gone. You can shout, you can cry, you can scream your entire life away, and then, when your end comes, nature will assimilate your body back into itself, completely oblivious to a single complaint. Or, alternatively, you can accept the reality of nature as it is, even if it isn't exactly the way you wish it were, and you can find the beauty, the peace, and the joy it contains for you in the finite time you have here.

It's your choice.

Paradise Cannot Be Forced
February 29, 2020

Paradise cannot be achieved by force. Trying to do so destroys the desired end through incompatible means.

Wisdom
February 15, 2020

Wisdom is not claimed. It is demonstrated.

Suicide Is a Tragic Mistake, Not a Weapon
February 1, 2020

Suicide is a tragic mistake, not a weapon.

We should never use someone's suicide as a weapon in the fight for our point of view because doing so creates an incentive for others to repeat that same tragic mistake.

Suicide is a tragic mistake, not a weapon, never a weapon.

The Dishonor of Breaking Your Commitment
January 18, 2020

There is no honor in leaving your spouse of years because you want to chase something that attracts you more. It doesn't matter what gender that something is. The choice is selfish and dishonorable.

And it's morally repugnant for society to cheer when sexual identity is used as an excuse for dishonorable choices like this. Would they cheer as loudly if a man left his wife for another woman? Then they shouldn't cheer when he leaves her for men either. A commitment is a commitment, and a betrayal is a betrayal.

Slippery Slopes
January 11, 2020

After someone slides down a slippery slope they were warned about, they seldom look back and say, "Gee, I guess those who warned me about that slippery slope were right. I should listen to them next time." Instead, they usually say, "Who cares? I like it down here anyway."

It's Depressing ...
December 27, 2018

There is more than one way to view the circumstances of our lives, more than one way to think about ourselves; and the narrative we choose to believe about ourselves has a powerful impact on how we will navigate life's circumstances. That's why it's so depressing when a fellow believer chooses to identify as "gay". The declaration itself is technically ambiguous (Are they talking about attraction, or are they talking about action? There is an eternity of distance between the two), but their unfortunate choice to embrace same-sex sexuality as a core part of their identity rather than to regard it simply as a wrong behavior they desire yet reject, puts them on a path that almost inevitably will lead to their rejection of the truths we once shared.

Related essays:
The War Between Identity and Behavior
Identity Shells and How They Are Used Against You

A Hollow Politics
February 12, 2018

Your inability to advance your cause without portraying those who disagree with you as monsters bespeaks the hollowness of your politics, a core of dust. And your future, ashes.

I Oppose Wrong Beliefs, Not People
November 13, 2017

I oppose wrong beliefs and ideologies, not people. Had I walked in another's shoes, I might believe and do as they believe and do. I don't oppose people. I seek to persuade them. Wrong beliefs and ideologies are forever wrong, but a wrong person can choose to become right.

Religious Freedom and Sexual Identity
September 13, 2016

Religious freedom and sexual identity are incompatible. Religious freedom requires the ability to treat a behavior as wrong, but sexual identity declares that some behaviors are so intrinsic to one's identity we should not have the freedom to treat them as wrong. Our society can have either religious freedom or it can have sexual identity. It cannot have both.

Related essay:
How Anti-Discrimination Laws Are Used to Discriminate Against Religion

Magical Words
May 19, 2016

You can prove a man's height. You can prove his weight, his blood type, his skin color, his biological sex. But you can't prove a man is a woman, not without the mystical power of "Gender Identity", not without the magical words "I am a woman".

And what if I don't believe those words are magic?

Related essay:
Divine Authority and "Gender Identity"

Psychologists and Biology
May 12, 2016

Psychologists do not hold precedence over biology. The fact that a man feels more comfortable while pretending to be a woman doesn't mean he is a woman. It just means he is a man in need of a better psychologist.

Related essay:
Some Connected Thoughts about Gender

"Transgender" Is a Religious Term
May 11, 2016

"Transgender" is a religious term used by a religion I don't believe in.

Related essay:
Opposition to "Gender Identity" Is Driven by Logic, Not Religion

The Cognitive Dissonance of "Gender Identity"
April 20, 2016

Gender, if divorced from biological sex, is pointless. That's the true core of our society's conflict over "gender identity" today. It's the cognitive dissonance. We're expected to believe that gender actually matters (and therefore we should bother paying attention to it) and to simultaneously believe that gender doesn't matter (and therefore people can claim to be whatever gender they want, despite their biology). It's us staring up at a bright blue sky while activist bullies are screaming in our ears that it's green, and the whole time Darwin is watching from afar, snickering.

Skin Color Doesn't Matter
April 11, 2016

If telling someone their skin color prohibits them from the hair style of their choice isn't an example of blatant racism, then what is the point of even having the word? We are not our skin color. Skin color doesn't matter. It neither defines nor limits us. Those who disagree, who persist in viewing the world through race-tinted glasses, who judge words by the color of the speaker, who judge actions by the color of the doer, who demand that freedom itself be dictated by the color of our skin—those are today's racists.

Discrimination Against Moral Beliefs
March 25, 2016

Self-righteous activists, who claim to oppose discrimination, are advocating for laws and policies that discriminate against those who hold different moral beliefs.

Giants Beget Dwarfs
March 16, 2016

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants, whom I criticize for not seeing as far as I, standing on their shoulders, am able to see.

Gender Is Not a Religious Concept
March 3, 2016

Religion is about the unseen. Gender is not. When gender-identity missionaries knock on Mother Nature's door, she unleashes Darwin to chase them off her lawn.

Corrupted Wisdom
February 27, 2016

Our society seeks wisdom and guidance from those who've been corrupted by fame and fortune. This won't end well.

Behavior Identities
February 20, 2016

Behavior identities (also referred to as identity shells) are manipulative, artificial labels placed around behaviors to force us to accept what we otherwise wouldn't. When you see a behavior identity being used, replace the false label with the behavior it is hiding and notice how much clearer the situation becomes.

You are being manipulated. Doesn't that bother you? Because, frankly, it pisses me off.

It's Not Fun to Say No
February 12, 2016

Because it's not fun (or comfortable) to tell someone no, our moral principles tend to become the lowest common denominator of those we associate with. Oh, that more of us could have the strength to tell family and friends we love them and that's why we expect better of them!

The Discouragement of Wrong Behavior
February 6, 2016

Everyone treats wrong behavior differently from right behavior. There's nothing remarkable about that. All of us do it, each following our own definition of right and wrong. Whether the personal disapproval of individuals or the legal consequences of government, the effect is the same: a discouragement of behavior we consider to be wrong.

There are, unfortunately, some who try to hide certain behaviors behind a facade of identity in an attempt to place those behaviors out-of-bounds for disapproval; but that manipulative tactic is a topic for another day.

Anti-Discrimination Laws
January 12, 2016

Anti-discrimination laws, which in the past were used to protect the equality of people, are now being used to impose the acceptance of ideology. "Thou shalt not discourage this behavior"—that is the message of anti-discrimination laws today. It's time for such laws to be relegated to the past. As long as we allow them to remain, they will continue to become more and more corrupted.

Paying the Price
November 4, 2015

We are paying the price today for mistakes made by prior generations. In like manner, our children and grandchildren will one day pay the price for the mistakes our society is making today.

The Word 'Sexist'
October 26, 2015

If the word 'sexist' is used to describe someone who treats one gender differently than the other, then the word is meaningless and should be retired. The word only has meaning when it refers to someone who treats either gender intentionally worse. If nature is sexist, then nothing is.

Racial Strife
October 19, 2015

As long as those who profit from racial strife are allowed to remain in positions of power and prestige, there will always be racial strife.

Logic
September 28, 2015

There is no perfect argument, no logic that cannot itself be torn down by logic. It all sits upon shifting sands of subjectivity, its inputs and weights constantly changing. That which is considered proven today will be disproven tomorrow. Logic does not lead to truth. It only leads to temporary conclusions.

Society's Roles
January 6, 2015

If a society wants to survive, then one of the most important roles of its men must be that of a father, and one of the most important roles of its women must be that of a mother. If a society recognizes this and has any common sense, then the most important role of its men will be that of a husband, and the most important role of its women will be that of a wife.

Stars and Black Holes
December 27, 2014

Being an emotional black hole is a miserable existence—constantly sucking in energy, a net negative on everyone around them. Fulfillment comes from being like a star instead—always shining outward, intent on being useful to others.

Creation of Persons
December 20, 2014

The greatest thing we can do is create something, and the greatest thing we can create is a person, not just the creation of their body but the development of their mind and soul as well. God feels joy at our progression, and we can feel that same joy at the progression of others.

Deference for Doctrine
November 15, 2014

Those who follow the doctrines of the crowd do not deserve more deference than those who follow the doctrines of a church.

Duty to Stand
October 14, 2014

Although we might believe the decline of society is inevitable, it remains our duty and privilege to stand against it anyway.

Our Favorite Prophets
October 2, 2014

Our favorite "prophets" are those who tell us that everything we're doing is perfectly fine. Prophets who preach hard changes? We don't like those.

Repentance
September 30, 2014

Repentance is about progress, not avoidance of punishment.

Be Purposeful
September 26, 2014

Due to the pervasiveness of Internet pornography, any man who is not taking purposeful measures to resist it is probably looking at it.

Communities
September 19, 2014

Being part of a community allows you to influence others within that community, but it also allows you yourself to be influenced, to come to believe and value what that community believes and values. Choose your communities wisely. Don't join any that would lead you where you don't want to go.

Daily Rhythm
September 17, 2014

We underappreciate the importance of daily rhythm, the chance to start afresh each morning, to do better than the day before. This is especially true for struggles against compulsions and addictions. Yesterday's mistakes are yesterday's mistakes; today is a new today. How beautiful the sunrise!

Two Realities
September 15, 2014

There are two realities. There is what is, and there is what we say is. We can bend the latter to our liking, but the former remains firm, and our foolishness can be measured by the distance we create between the two.

Decent Society
September 12, 2014

You can't kick the decent out of decent society. Well, you can, but the result is a society that isn't decent anymore.

Opponents and Allies
September 10, 2014

Those who oppose you need not be permanent opponents. Always leave an opening for them to become your allies.

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