This is my site title (for now)

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/troops-being-told-to-prepare-for-armageddon-in-iran_n_69a6ffe3e4b076ac5d63c82c?utm_campaign=yahoo-recirc – this is concerning.

Several years ago, I had a dream that the world seemed to be coming to an end – the apocalypse had started. I wound up joining with a group of people in a building, who were doing some kind of religious chanting, to try to ward it off or something. But then I went outside. The sky was blue, but then a patch of red started to spread. Then I thought, well maybe we should just try to be good people, ie. be nice to each other, etc. … and I don’t remember specifically what happened after that, but that was near the end of the dream.

Okay, the point is, in order to be good, you have to be good. There isn’t a magical shortcut. Of course, there are technical solutions and strategic solutions to various problems; we can try to be efficient and effective in making the world a better place (clean energy innovations, etc.). Like, eg., trying to do actually effective actual altruism – not the (AFAICT) fake kind* espoused among some rich people in Silicon Valley. And like, eg., taking a long term perspective – not the (AFAICT) supposed ‘longtermism’ that doesn’t seem to pursue any actual good?†

(if the goal is always only for some future utopia(?†), the interests of the people of now will never get enough weight. And every moment, when it comes, will always be now) (well, that ignores the possibility(?) of that utopia ever actually happening (†I’m being a little flippant; I won’t attempt a fully accurate description and critique here, other than to say that the interests of people of all times should be considered**) but still…)

… long story, anyway, the point here – it seems like some people think they can just take some eye-of-newt, support a genocide/ethnic cleansing committed by the Israeli government, sacrifice some children, and voila, God will let you into heaven or bless you on Earth. What sense does that make?

“astronomy has a colonialism problem” , “Einstein Was a Socialist; Should We Care?” – Dr. Fatima)

Advice/guidance can be helpful, but don’t completely outsource your moral judgement, particularly to (misunderstandings/misapplications of) ancient texts.

(edited from my comment: https://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2026/02/the-climate-science-reference-they-dont-want-judges-to-read/#comment-845288

I recently read a book “Star-Spangled Jesus” by April Ajoy, about Christian Nationalism – it’s a particularly interesting and informative perspective because she grew up in and as a part of that culture. I got the impression that the Christian-nationalist support of Trump was a large factor in causing her to start questioning things more (she didn’t like Trump) and learning more about reality, coming to realizations about things Christian-nationalists are getting wrong.

Note that April Ajoy is still a Christian, so she may be a more appealing source for some people than Kristi Burke, who became an atheist (but is also agnostic* – there is some overlap between the two categories AIUI) – who’s channel’s content overlaps with the above.
(Kristi Burke:

https://jezebelvibes.com/ , https://jezebelvibes.com/aboutme ,
“Evangelical Persecution is Self-Fulfilling Prophecy” [, ”5 Bible Passages That Caused Me To Lose My Faith” , “4 MORE Bible Passages That Caused Me to Lose My Faith” ,]
“The Biggest Announcement I Never Thought I’d Make” (She’s running for congress! Yay! 🙂 )

Another great source of information is Dan Mclellan: https://www.youtube.com/@maklelan

[…]

I think my version of a loving, just (and albeit likely imaginary) God was perhaps based not so much on biblical texts but on the idea that God is good, and, well, I knew what good meant (eg. of course God wouldn’t punish people just for not believing in God (seems a bit self-centered to do that)). And that’s a key point. I wonder if part of the problem is that many Christians are taught that, being sinners, humans shouldn’t trust their own moral judgement or reasoning. I have read that in Christian-nationalist (and other some Christian) culture, questioning(/thinking?) is only okay up to a point, because too much of that risks being influenced by Satan. Loving one’s enemies is the hardest of Jesus’s recommendations, but I find I can do it to some extent: being angry with this part of MAGA but also feeling bad for them, because they actually do care about people, but they’ve been led to being ~mean/harsh/tough – to themselves – and others – by fear of Hell, etc.

PS see also ”I read a book on “godly masculinity” and it was honestly so funny” – Psychology with Dr. Ana
”Is Male Dominance in our DNA?” – Breaking Down Patriarchy
”The Scientific Lie That Damaged Generations of Men” – Be Smart

* working to make a lot of money in order to help people through philanthropy is not on its face a bad idea, but 1. be nice to yourself as well (you are a person, too) – if you can, choose a job that’s a good fit for you, even if it doesn’t make you super rich. 2. if your income depends on exploiting people, is the philanthropic benefit sufficient to justify/undo the harm?

(A complete moral assessment must include all the consequences, including psychological, including the effect on the agent (eg. “The Trolley Problem”).)

** we can anticipate that there will be people in the future who will have some needs, wants, abilities, desires, fears, etc. We don’t need to know them individually, or exactly how many of them will be (an estimate may do), in order to try to be fair to them. We might, eg., make the assumption that they will continue to be biological beings, taking something similar to present human form, for the foreseeable future, and so plan accordingly for eg. dietary needs/wants* (*sustainably maintain the chocolate, strawberry, cinnamon, and maple syrup supplies), in regard to land use and climate policy…

But being good to people doesn’t necessarily mean it is better to have more people to be good to. And even if having more people has some moral value (arguably it does, but this must be weighed against the availability of resources so that each individual person can live well (I consider that more important) – although having other people is a part of living well (socially and economically)… – and of course there are sentient beings who may not be considered people… etc…), who says all those people have to live at the same time (besides the social and economic benefits, to each individual, of not having too small a population).

This is my site title (for now)

Common Sense Immigration (& Crime etc.) Policy

The World is in Desperate need of Regime Change: in the U.S., in Israel, and in Russia.

Holy Wars, Magical ‘Morality’, and a note about Sustainability

End the War with Iran!