Why the Huffpost helped me start this blog

One of the things that led to this blog was the Huffington Post.  How?  Because I got tired of having my comments censored.  Though I may be a bit caustic at times, I try never to be mean or hateful.  I try to call a spade a spade, but that's it.  I don't try to promote hate, violence, or cheer the suffering of others.   I may point out ironies in some folks' worries or difficulties, if those folks have been a cause of problems for other people, or the world at large.  But I'm not out calling for death, destruction, and spewing hate toward folks, as I hope this blog demonstrates. 

Nonetheless, despite the fact that people who wish to vomit no end of hatred and contempt and bigotry against things like America, Christianity, the Catholic Church, and generally anyone on the right, have no problem getting their comments posted (it chills my blood to think what kind of comments aren't allowed given those that are), I had troubles posting sometimes very basic, nuts and bolts comments.  Take this little exchange on the one article that mentioned problems for Iraqi Christians.  

Someone had posted a sort of 'wouldn't the world be better without all that religion stuff' comment.  I gently pointed out that folks are quite capable of doing evil with or without religion.  The individual responded I was kind of right, and wished me some pluralistic 'enjoy your own version of the holidays'.  Fine, I wished them the same.  Then one of the Huffpost moderators chimed in with this:

“Your discussion of 20th century practices fits exactly within the parameters of religion as tribal control and power structure. King Henry VIII probably would have been an atheist leader if the culture at the time would have allowed it.

Religion is competitio­n for the complete power that any dictator wants to have. Bloody Mary is a perfect example of using religion for power; wanting the church's political support.

Until the 20th century leaders knew that being descended from or blessed by god was the proper way to command the populace easily. As humanity began to move away from unquestion­ed belief in a deity the need for divine endorsemen­t became obsolete as a requiremen­t.

I personally believe that religion has done more harm than good. We will not know the fullness of the atrocities not only direct but indirect until we have evolved socially away from handing our personal responsibi­lity to some man made deity.

Once we have to tak responsibi­lity for our own behavior and have to stop saying "GOD says this is HIS will!" we will grow as a race. Perhaps these power plays will be recognized for what they are and we can move toward peace as a race.

I enjoy the good feelings and care that people and families show toward each other at this time of year. I fervently hope that as we grow into our humanity we will be able to behave well year round and not have to be reminded by a 'god.'”

The typical talking points for those who conform to modern secular thought.  Nothing new.  Nothing horribly mean or anything.  Capped off with the usual 'I don't need religion to be good, even though my version of good happens to coincidentally coincide with the religious tradition of my culture.'

So I responded with an answer that basically reminded the individual that anyone living after the 20th century should know that removing religion from the formula does not ensure peace on earth.  In fact, I pointed out some could argue that religion has been a moderating influence on humanity's tendency to do evil.  After all, once religion was out of the way, the secular philosophies and ideologies that drove the last century were able to cause more deaths in a single century than the 2000 year history of the Christian faith. I also threw in a bit about the complex causes of evil, that they often had more to do with good old fashion greed, lust, power and such rather than the absence or presence of religion.

I ended it with some polite nods to the fact that the moderator's comment wasn't mean or hostile, I acknowledged that religion certainly has it's bad spots throughout history, and that people will do bad no matter what.  I wish the individual a happy holidays.

And BAM!  Pulled from the post.  WTH!  Why would a response pointing to a few stats and facts to support my claim that religion is not the sole cause of evil be pulled?  I often had that point pulled.  Or when I tried to point out the flaws in the notion of 'Safe Sex', or point to the fact that men, when all things are equal, will generally prefer not to wear a condom.  Censored every time.  No matter how nice, friendly, kind, and in keeping with the Huffpost standards I was, there were certain things that the censors simply would not allow.

That's about right.  As I've said, it's not hard to see many on the Left itching to put an end to this whole liberty and freedom stuff.  But I got tired of it happening so flagrantly.  Especially when comments that spewed hatred and loathing and contempt for those things the Huffpost hates were allowed.  Censorship may be all the rage in some segments of the post-moder left, but I decided I didn't have to hang around and let it keep me from writing what I wanted to write. 

P.S.  The comment that does show up was my second attempt.  Sometimes at varying intervals, comments can be posted without editorial reviews.  That one made it straight to the post.  Unfortunately my original post was not saved, and therefore I didn't have it available.