About Faith...The Two Legged Dog

Today I got an email from my friend and boss about a dog named Faith who has two legs. Evidently the dog was an "internet sensation" a few years back and the Email was intended to be inspirational - if this dog can make it then so can you!

The wording of parts of the email were suspect as was the name of the dog and from the get go I felt that nasty twinge of religion impeding on my otherwise happy day. The Email itself wasn't overtly religious, but indicative enough that I felt compelled to check out Faith's inevitable official website. Sure enough, three paragraphs in:

People ask me if it was easy to teach Faith to walk upright...the answer is NO! It was not easy, and it was not natural. It was SUPER natural, and therefore, we have to give all of the credit to Jesus. Of course, it took a little....Faith as well.

So sugary you might just get a cavity. So let's look back on the email for a second so I can explain why this dog sent to spread faith and hope to people in the name of Jesus is so confusing to me.

In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfing board to let her feel the movements. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for her to stand up and jump around. Even the other dog at home also helped to encourage her to walk. Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on her 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward. After further training in the snow, she now can walk like a human being.

This is called 'training.' This is what you do when you train a dog. You use incentives and positive reinforcement. It's not a miracle for a dog to learn how to do things, especially if they have a dedicated teacher guiding them. People don't exclaim that it's a miracle when a dog learns to run a complicated obstacle course or is trained to help people who are disabled or is trained to sniff out certain chemicals and these are not even biological imperatives. It was in the dog's best interest biologically to mobilize itself somehow AND she had a trainer. I would say she had more than enough incentive and support to teach herself to use her legs in an atypical way.

Her present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take her around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'.

This may be nit-picking on my part, but isn't it a big cruel for a christian to talk about a dog being an example for anything to do with perfect souls when christians maintain that animals don't even have souls? No, it's not nit picking. Christians have no problem insisting that animals are below humans because of some contrived notion that humans are god's chosen creation, yet when it suits their purpose they'll celebrate specific animals as special because they can imagine divine inspiration from them. This dog is inspirational in that she would have otherwise died had it not been for sound veterinary science and specifically focused training when she was still in the most pivotal developmental stages of life.

Contrary to what this woman might want people to believe, Faith is not a miracle dog. She's a cool dog, I'm not bad mouthing the creature, but she's certainly not any indication of the supernatural - other dogs with similar conditions have accomplished the exact same feat. Faith is a perfect example of something that should be celebrated being ignored in favor of religious fanaticism. Ms. Stringfellew can call Faith a miracle all she wants and will no doubt capitalize on her dog's success financially and personally, but the fact is - the dog did what dogs do best, which is adapt and compensate. Way to be a dog, Faith.

Swearing and Religion

According to the Researchers from the school of psychology at Britain's Keele University, cursing could possibly help people deal with pain. The study had volunteers immerse their hand in a tub of ice water for as long as they could stand while both refraining from swearing and while repeating the curse word of their choice. The results of the study found that when people cursed, they could handle the ice water for an average of 40 seconds longer. What, you may ask, does this have to do with religion?

Online and in person, I have repeatedly been told by religious people that my use of curse words is offensive to them because of their religion. What specifically does the bible have to say about cursing? This is what I could find:

Matthew 15:17-20: "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man."

I have heard a myriad of complaints from christians in particular regarding swearing, all of which amount to the position that swearing is a sign of an evil or impure soul.

According to this study, swearing is a means for people to withstand pain and is likely an instictual response.

This, to me, is a perfect example of one of the biggest issues I have with religion: the insistance that human nature and instinct - reactions and emotions which occur inherently and therefore are often impossible to control or produce negative results when controlled - is evil or impure. This seems like a way to make every person born an evil and impure entitiy regardless of their merit and accomplishments and then presents religion as a kind of cure all for these impurities when there is nothing impure about instinct!

Yes, there are some instincts that we no longer require as an evolutionary imperative because of how we have progressed as a society technologically and intellectually, and we have learned as a community to control these instincts for the sake of the community we belong to. I'm not saying screaming 'fuck' in front of a group of pre-schoolers when you stub your toe is acceptable or even uncontrollable. However, I do grow tired of being told as an adult by other adults that I should censor myself because their religion tells them what I'm saying is offensive. I respect people when they ask me to curb the swearing because they personally find it offensive, but that respect is immediately lost when that offense is righteously attributed to a religion - which transforms the request for respect into a demand for me to augment my behavior because they choose to follow a religion. All I have to say to that is: no fucking thanks.