• I’m at Encinita Ave – http://bkite.com/080k1 #
• I’m at Lucky Baldwins Delirium & Cafe – http://bkite.com/080np #
• I’m at N San Gabriel Blvd – http://bkite.com/081aQ #

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I’m pretty sure that I know where I left it, but it is not here, so: Google Chat, email, Skype, whatever.  But I won’t be answering my phone.

Since this incarnation of bachelorhood, I have felt not so much bachelor as vaguely pathetic.  But tonight, I am relaxing with horror DVDs and TV dinners, watching with headphones on a computer monitor I needn’t share, with a drink, on the sofa.  All I need now is to loosen my belt and belch — that, and pretend I’m drinking Pabst and not a mimosa.

• Barcelona ahead 1-nil #

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Frequently atheist arguments, when simplified enough for a blog post, end up squarely in “Shut up, you’re not helping” territory.  And despite several misfires, I would recommend “It’s no mystery how Nonbelievers stay moral without God”, if only for the presentation of a false syllogism that seems to explain the believer’s logic:

1. If God does not exist, then there is no guarantee that moral goodness will ultimately prevail.
2. If there is no guarantee that moral goodness will ultimately prevail, then there is no guarantee that moral conduct is meaningful.
3. If there is no guarantee that moral conduct is meaningful, then people cannot be reasonably motivated to behave morally.
4. People should be reasonably motivated to behave morally.
Therefore,
[5]. God exists.

In these situations, I am often struck with the idea that I must be completely missing some subtlety — the conviction that in the argument, surely one of us is being a moron.  But the justifications for faith really do seem pervasively fear-based.  I run up against “If there is no guarantee that moral goodness will ultimately prevail, then there is no guarantee that moral conduct is meaningful” all the time.  My response is, “So?!”  What bearing has an idea’s ability to comfort have on an existential claim?

I must — must — be missing something.  I know there are several devoted readers of my blog of an Abrahamic bent, and I would be indebted for an explication.

The reflexive claim of religionists seems frequently to be “without the fear of damnation, I surely would rape, torture, steal, and murder.”  Really?  Seriously, have you thought this through?  If it is only the fear of divine retribution that keeps you from commiting atrocities, would you be so kind as to stay the fuck away from me and my child?  Or, at the very least, comment on this post?