Why are we so afraid?
Why are we so afraid of a virus?
Why are we so afraid of dying?
I think it’s because we’ve become a spiritually-bereft people.
Back in 1960, a whopping 74% of Montanans were Catholic. Still, in the 1970s, just 50% of them went to church...usually less. The Episcopol denominations fell off in the state while the Mormon and Baptist faiths rose in numbers.
Today we figure that 38% of Montanans identify with one religion or another. The largest group is still Catholics, though their numbers have fallen considerably, to just 13%. Mormons are the second largest religious group in Montana, at 5% with another 4.6% saying they’re “another Christian faith.”
Nationally, about 49% of Americans are affiliated with a religion, 19% are Catholic, 9% are Baptist, 5.5% are “other Christian,” nearly 4% are Methodist, 2% are Lutheran, 2% are Mormon, 1.8% are Pentecostal, 1.6% are Presbyterian, 0.8% are Muslim, 0.7% are Jewish, 0.6% are Episcopalian, and 0.5% are “Eastern.”
So in the span of about 50 years, Catholics in Montana have seen their numbers fall by 61%.
What happened?
Going to church just wasn’t as important to younger generations as it was for those that came before. But people were still spiritual.
In 2015 Pew Research asked 35,000 Americans about their religious beliefs. They found that 89% of people believe in God, down from 92% in 2007. Those that are “absolutely certain” that God exists fell from 71% to 63% during that time.
So people believe...just not in religion.
I think most of our ideas of death are wrong anyways.
Based on what we know from thousands of Near Death Experiences (NDEs) as well as psychics and other clairvoyants, the afterlife looks like this:
- The soul leaves the body
- The soul travels through a tunnel, often with light
- A dazzling being of light awaits at the end of the tunnel
- The soul experiences a rapid life review
- The being imparts a sense of compassion as the soul realizes its errors
- The soul meets loved ones that have passed over
- The soul visits ‘Heaven’ and the Crystal City of Light
- The soul meets with the Council of Elders
- The soul receives a revelation of profound teaching
- The soul either reincarnates back on Earth with a new mission, or if it’s become spiritually-developed enough, it will stay
They don’t teach you that in church, that’s for sure.
And most people don’t think of this, or even of God and whatever religion they were brought-up in.
Sadly, many view death as the end-all, end-all...with a black nothingness on the other side.
That’s a depressing and empty way to go through life, but many of us do that each and every day.
So we’re afraid of death, and we fight it tooth and nail and do everything we can to avoid it...even if it means spending the last few years of our life in misery, often hooked-up to machines or living in a nursing home with strangers that neither know us or care to.
Last night Missoula’s City Council reappointed Karl Englund as chairman of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency.
The MRA is nothing more than a slush fund for the city, one that takes its money from special tax districts that divert money away from the general fund.
This is a big reason why the mayor is bitching that he has to spend $6.5 million a year to maintain the city’s roads - that money has to come from the general fund, and the general fund just doesn’t have the money it should.
Because it’s siphoned off to the MRA to dole out to preferred developers for special projects.
The three conservative members of the City Council voted against reappointing Englund, but all three did vote to appoint for the first time Scott Stearns to the Business Improvement District Board.
Stearns was one of the leading lawyers for the city’s water purchase deal.
You might remember that we took out $140 million in debt for the water company, just so we could stick it to a major corporation. The water coming out of my tap hasn’t changed.
$50 million of that debt we didn’t even need. The mayor wanted it “just in case,” and now our kids will have to pay that off with high tax bills.
The Montana Department of Commerce is launching a marketing campaign to actually tell tourists to stay away from Montana.
Meanwhile in Missoula, elected officials in the city and the county are trying to trick and bamboozle citizens into thinking that tourists are actually going to pay the 2 cent gas tax they want.
What tourists?
Didn’t you get the memo? We’re in a worldwide pandemic and governments near and far are forcing people to stay home. Hell, here in Montana we’re using the few tax dollars we have left to tell people not to come here and spend money.
What a mess.
Not a single person in the local Missoula media - not even a letter to the editor - is pointing out the fact that the city and county argument that tourists are going to pay this tax is complete and utter baloney.
Missoula’s politicians hope you don’t think about this, let alone ask a question about it.
‘Just stay home and watch your Netflix and eat your takeout. We’ll take care of everything!’
In California the unelected health board members want the city of Los Angeles to stay shutdown until well into July. Blowback was swift, and the mayor had to talk that back.
Meanwhile in Washington State, the governor there says if you don’t agree to contact tracing, you’ll be forced to stay in your home and you won’t be able to go out and get groceries.
How long are Americans going to put up with these tiny tyrants telling us what to do? How long are we going to allow them to steal our civil liberties and human rights and walk all over them while they laugh?
How long?
Also in California, officials are now saying that universities probably won’t open up again in the fall.
My question is, ‘Why open them back up at all?’
What use are they...besides propping-up the extravagant lifestyles of egghead professors and overpaid administrators?
Our kids are going into debt up to their eyeballs for years because of this? Because some old Baby Boomers found the secret to doing pretty much no work for huge pay and an entire generation’s future is now ruined?
I feel sorry for anyone that goes to a university today. What a rip-off it is.
And then when you do graduate, you can’t even find a job.
I graduated into the 2008 recession. I know what the graduates this year are going to go through. I wish them luck.
I’ll leave you with a few humorous videos. The first is a mock horse race video that came out about a month ago, but I didn’t hear it until it was on a Montana morning radio show a week or so ago. It’s pretty good.
The second is from actor Kevin James and it came out last week.
Both videos are short and will probably give you a few laughs about how we're acting in this country.
