Dark Mutterings: July 9, 2007
The Problem With Christianity Is Christians
I live in the south-eastern region of the US; not exactly an area known for being a Mecca of Atheism and scientific belief. As you can imagine, this puts an antisocial stigma on my religious belief of having no religious beliefs.
The most common response I get when I tell someone that I'm an Aethers (and it DOES come up, believe you me) is either disbelief ("No you're not! You're lying!") or puzzlement ("What's 'Aethers' mean?"); and in the case of the latter, they usually revert to the former after I explain the definition.
Now I've known some other Atheists who were actually angered and offended by the level of religious (mostly of the Christian type; no religion pisses off a testy Aethers quicker than the Jesus Police) influence one encounters in the day to day life you must deal with around here. They get angry when they enter a store and hear Christmas music playing over the loud speakers (usually the week after Labor Day) or they become offended when they see a car with a Jesus fish or "My boss is a Jewish carpenter" bumper sticker on it. Personally I don't let these things bother me. If I did, I'd have probably died of a stress -induced aneurysm years ago.
There is one thing that has always bugged me, though. In fact, it's gone beyond minor annoyance and settled comfortably on the "Pain In My Ass" couch. Pamphlets, that's what bothers me. Those little, cheaply printed four or six page pamphlets that so many churches in this part of the country print up and give to their parishioners to hand out. You can't get away from these fucking things. Stop to buy a sandwich at Subway; get handed a pamphlet with your change. Stop at red light; get handed a pamphlet by some guy who's harassing drivers for donations. Ring a customer up at your job; get a pamphlet back with the signed credit card slip. Hell, I can't even take a shit at work or at a public restaurant without having to step over a stack of pamphlets that have been left in the stall like religious land mines.
Isn't this littering? If I went about dropping pages that I'd ripped out of an issue of Blender, I'd most likely be fined; but if the paper has pictures of crudely drawn angels and sinner with a liquor bottle (marked "XXX", naturally) then it's perfectly OK to scatter them across the landscape.
I used to work at a Goodwill store, and was in charge of keeping the books and music section neat and organized. I cleaned the shelves at least every other day, and was constantly finding dozens of these damned pamphlets on the shelves. I finally figured out that the culprit was an older gentleman who came in about once a day. Since I knew him as a friendly old guy, I approached him one day and politely asked him to stop leaving the pamphlets, as it was just creating a mess that I had to clean every day. The kindly old man instantly began pitching a religiously powered fit. He yelled (yes, he actually stood right there in the store and shouted in my face) that it was his legal and God-given right to distribute religious material, and that no one could do anything to stop him. I simply agreed with him, apologized for bothering him and walked away.
A couple of days later, when he came into the store and started laying the pamphlets out on the shelves, I began walking a few steps behind him, picking each on up, crumbling it up and throwing it into a waste basket that I was carrying. After a few minutes the old man realized what I was doing, and he got pissed off and began to berate me, again. I once again told him that it was indeed, his legal right to leave the pamphlets laying around, but it was MY right to collect and destroy them as I saw fit.
After about three more episodes of me trashing his pamphlets the guy stopped coming to our store. I never considered it a great loss.
So, yes, Christians of America (and Jews, Catholics, Muslims etc.) you are guaranteed freedom from religious persecution and the right to practice your religious beliefs. This is one of the things that makes America a decent place to live. I, however, have the same rights not to be inundated with the detritus of your beliefs. Just because I believe in the logical scientific fact that I can see in front of me, that I can touch and experience, and not in some invisible man in the sky who has a split personality (Look at me! I'm my own dad!) doesn't make me any less of an American than you!
I finish by saying to you what I can't say to those I meet on a daily basis. GO FUCK YOURSELVES! And have a blessed day.
Later,
A!
The Problem With Christianity Is Christians
I live in the south-eastern region of the US; not exactly an area known for being a Mecca of Atheism and scientific belief. As you can imagine, this puts an antisocial stigma on my religious belief of having no religious beliefs.
The most common response I get when I tell someone that I'm an Aethers (and it DOES come up, believe you me) is either disbelief ("No you're not! You're lying!") or puzzlement ("What's 'Aethers' mean?"); and in the case of the latter, they usually revert to the former after I explain the definition.
Now I've known some other Atheists who were actually angered and offended by the level of religious (mostly of the Christian type; no religion pisses off a testy Aethers quicker than the Jesus Police) influence one encounters in the day to day life you must deal with around here. They get angry when they enter a store and hear Christmas music playing over the loud speakers (usually the week after Labor Day) or they become offended when they see a car with a Jesus fish or "My boss is a Jewish carpenter" bumper sticker on it. Personally I don't let these things bother me. If I did, I'd have probably died of a stress -induced aneurysm years ago.
There is one thing that has always bugged me, though. In fact, it's gone beyond minor annoyance and settled comfortably on the "Pain In My Ass" couch. Pamphlets, that's what bothers me. Those little, cheaply printed four or six page pamphlets that so many churches in this part of the country print up and give to their parishioners to hand out. You can't get away from these fucking things. Stop to buy a sandwich at Subway; get handed a pamphlet with your change. Stop at red light; get handed a pamphlet by some guy who's harassing drivers for donations. Ring a customer up at your job; get a pamphlet back with the signed credit card slip. Hell, I can't even take a shit at work or at a public restaurant without having to step over a stack of pamphlets that have been left in the stall like religious land mines.
Isn't this littering? If I went about dropping pages that I'd ripped out of an issue of Blender, I'd most likely be fined; but if the paper has pictures of crudely drawn angels and sinner with a liquor bottle (marked "XXX", naturally) then it's perfectly OK to scatter them across the landscape.
I used to work at a Goodwill store, and was in charge of keeping the books and music section neat and organized. I cleaned the shelves at least every other day, and was constantly finding dozens of these damned pamphlets on the shelves. I finally figured out that the culprit was an older gentleman who came in about once a day. Since I knew him as a friendly old guy, I approached him one day and politely asked him to stop leaving the pamphlets, as it was just creating a mess that I had to clean every day. The kindly old man instantly began pitching a religiously powered fit. He yelled (yes, he actually stood right there in the store and shouted in my face) that it was his legal and God-given right to distribute religious material, and that no one could do anything to stop him. I simply agreed with him, apologized for bothering him and walked away.
A couple of days later, when he came into the store and started laying the pamphlets out on the shelves, I began walking a few steps behind him, picking each on up, crumbling it up and throwing it into a waste basket that I was carrying. After a few minutes the old man realized what I was doing, and he got pissed off and began to berate me, again. I once again told him that it was indeed, his legal right to leave the pamphlets laying around, but it was MY right to collect and destroy them as I saw fit.
After about three more episodes of me trashing his pamphlets the guy stopped coming to our store. I never considered it a great loss.
So, yes, Christians of America (and Jews, Catholics, Muslims etc.) you are guaranteed freedom from religious persecution and the right to practice your religious beliefs. This is one of the things that makes America a decent place to live. I, however, have the same rights not to be inundated with the detritus of your beliefs. Just because I believe in the logical scientific fact that I can see in front of me, that I can touch and experience, and not in some invisible man in the sky who has a split personality (Look at me! I'm my own dad!) doesn't make me any less of an American than you!
I finish by saying to you what I can't say to those I meet on a daily basis. GO FUCK YOURSELVES! And have a blessed day.
Later,
A!