2010
So I am sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office and the TV is on. It is tuned to ABC rather than FOX (the station of choice here in town) and for that I was thankful. The View was on, and though the chattering and the way the hosts talk over each other can be annoying, it was at least not Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh.
But then their conversation turned to Pat Robertson and his heinous remarks about Haiti. I was glad to hear all four of them – including conservative Christian Elizabeth Hasselbeck, roundly condemn Robertson. I was surprised also to hear Elizabeth defend Obama and what she felt was a veiled reference to Robertson in Obama’s reassurance that Haiti would “not be forsaken.”
But the conversation quickly came to annoy me. “Why,” I thought, “am I forced to sit here and listen to all this crap about what their god would or would not do?” You cannot escape it. This is a debate we would not even be having, we would not be forced to listen to and to endure, if it were not for monotheism. There was no Satan in the days of polytheism for people so sell their souls to. This was an accusation that could not have been made. And therefore, a debate which could not have taken place.
We cannot escape it, however. We see it on TV, we see it in magazines, in newspapers, and on the Web. Hate, hate, hate. Condemnation after condemnation.
It is only at times like this, it seems, that any sound of condemnation comes from moderate Christians. Most of the time, the hate goes unremarked. Generally, the only people who speak up are atheists. Even many Pagans refuse to speak up. I’ve been told – scolded would be a better word – by Pagans who tell me that “Pagans don’t do that.” We Pagans are supposed to make nice with Christians. Apparently, no matter how egregious the offense.
And I am offended. I take my own advice. I turn the channel, I flip to a different page of the of the paper or the magazine I’m reading, or go to a different website. But when you’re out in public, you’re a hostage. You have no control over the TV while you’re waiting to see your doctor or your dentist, or while you’re eating your meal. And in a town like this, it’s very rare to find a TV tuned to ABC. If the girl behind the desk hadn’t been so busy, I’d have gotten up to tell her how much I appreciated them keeping the TV on a channel other than FOX. It was that remarkable, I thought.
But even having to fend off the propaganda, to dodge the shitstorm of falsity and disinformation spewing from the conservative media, is an aggravation. These people, I think, must be insecure about their god and their beliefs to have to invoke him with every other word. Even Elizabeth Hasselbeck managed to get a “holy spirit” thrown in for good measure before all was said and done. Maybe she was afraid of being forsaken if she didn’t.
I am a pious Heathen. I am devout. I love my gods and my religion. I do not, however, feel the need to mention them in every breath. They are part of my life. I am secure enough not to have to keep them and my beliefs on the tip of my tongue to prove it to anyone. And I know Jesus spoke of this, of this public display of piety that conservative Christians seem to think is required of them today. But they cherry-pick his words, just as they cherry-pick the “Old” Testament, choosing what to believe and what not to believe as if it’s a multiple choice with no wrong answers.
Frankly, I would be happy if I never had to hear another word out of them. If I want to know what they think about their god or their beliefs I’ll visit their website or blog or read their autobiography or follow their Twitters. Otherwise, I’d like to get through supper just once, or a doctor’s appointment, without having to hear about the holy spirit this and the holy spirit that. Do you think that’s too much to ask?
It seems like it’s gotten worse. I cannot explain the reasoning though I have some suspicions. Every channel – even NBC which I’ve always considered to be more liberal than the others – is now talking about or at least mentioning the monotheist understanding of god countless times just during the ‘Today’ show. It’s gotten to the point that I watch movies or read most of the time because it’s everywhere all of the time. And now my daughter, who has been free to choose for herself for several years now, has been invited (or even dragged along) to church consistently by friends’ parents after years of being left alone in this regard. She’s too informed for it to have any affect on her, but it seems that the desperation of those insisting is becoming more evident and demanding.
Is it 2012 coming or the rapture that has everyone riled? I can’t say but it’s become trying just getting through the days surrounded by ignorance and misunderstandings not to mention the promotion of their superstitions.
Thank you for the notification thing too! lol
Yeah, it really has gotten bad. You can’t escape it. Honestly, nobody is looking forward to the rapture as much as non-Christians are. Bring it on!
They want company because they doubt. If they were certain they’d not be fanatical about it. And more believers means it’s less likely they’ve deceived themselves, thus the weekly indoctrination sessions, the brainwashing of confirmation classes, the hounding of those who haven’t been in church recently, making sure you’re in a church (come to mine! it’s best!) etc etc.
LOL@confirmation classes! I was confirmed – twice! It just didn’t “take”.
Right now I’m trying really hard not to blow a gasket over a friend of mine calling Catholicism a “Pagan” religion – and she meant it as an insult to Catholicism knowing full well that I’m a Pagan. This is what being non-Christian means to too many right now when they don’t find a path. They become just as rabid as their counter parts.
I digress… apologies.
My son’s nurse was on the phone the other day talking about a new movie based on some children’s books, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” She knows full well I’m a polytheist but right there in front of me told her friend her kids should see it or at least read the books so they can get a grounding in Greek “mythology.” This would be like me telling somebody to see the “Ten Commandments” so they can get a grounding in Jewish or Christian mythology. Obviously, they’d be less than amused by such usage, but they think nothing of talking that way about our beliefs.
I’ve heard the nonsense about Catholicism being Pagan – the Puritans said the same of Anglican Christianity and for the same or similar reasons.
Although I no longer live in the U.S., I grew up there, and I don’t remember this sort of God-talk poisoning public discourse the way that it does now. I get the impression that it started out as a reaction to the countercultural movements of the ’60′s (hippies, Beatles, sexual liberation), the feminist movement, and the civil rights movement; and that it just keeps going and going and going.
It certainly make the U.S. look ludicrous in the eyes of the world. I can’t think of any other industrialized country in which the holy rollers are trying to get the public schools to teach creationism, where candidates for office have to have impeccable Christian credentials, or where the head of state would consult the likes of James Dobson on his choices for Supreme Court appointments.
Pat Robertson may be past his sell-by date, but back in the day he could buy and sell the White House; and, as the controlling mind behind hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of assets, he is still not without influence, looney though he may appear to be.
In a related matter, you might be interested in Frederick Clarkson’s comments on President Obama’s proclamation of January 16 as Religious Freedom Day, over at Talk to Action:
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/1/15/232152/844
@Makarios
Yep, you’re speaking my mind. I no longer live in the United States either. The world does laugh and I hear it everyday. When I do visit the U.S., “religion” is like a slap in the face. It sadly reminds me of being in school again… if it wasn’t so concerning, the behavior would be simply adolescent.
Makarios, I agree. I’ve said that myself before, that these are the forces of Reaction at work. They feel themselves increasingly marginalized, their status threatened by immigration, and their religion itself is no longer as dominant as it once was, with so many other religionists their neighbors. And the less they matter the louder they get.
Thank you for linking Frederick Clarkson’s comments!
Sydryd, some communities are worse than others too. For example, Colorado Springs. A fellow from there moved here and said he’d never been any place else so similar to Colorado Springs, where everyone is so in your religious business – do you go to church, which church do you go to? etc.
The Proclamation is great – however, why is it signed “in the year of our lord”??? Doesn’t it sort of taint the entire meaning of the thing? Or does it just irritate me for the reasons we’ve been discussing?
The way I’m looking at it is this: Here we have a bunch of Christians who continue to look at the world through a Christian lens (thus the “year of the lord”) but that at the very least they are standing up for the Jeffersonian principle that people have a right to worship whoever and however they wish – or not at all. It’s not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction.