Religion in America

Reading this post and this one got me thinking.

I'm in a somewhat unusual position. I was raised pagan.

Now, I've heard countless people say that when they hear someone claiming to have been raised pagan, their bullshit meters immediately spike. But the idea shouldn't be so unusual--the pagan movement really got rolling in the sixties, which is when my mother got into it. I was born in the early eighties. That gave her more than ten years to settle into and learn about her chosen religion before I was born, and since my father is a sort of cross between pagan/ambiguous, he left that stuff more or less up to my mother.

So I'm living in America, and I've never been one of the Big Three (Christianity, Judaism, and Muslim). I've never been one of the other two big world religions (Buddhism and Hinduism) that requires little explanation following the answer to what is one of the most common 'get to know you' questions around here (What church do you go to? You don't go? Why not?).

And admittedly, there's a lot about Christianity that mistifies me. I can tell you the differences between some of the denominations, but I can name more than I know anything about. I've only been inside of a church before to vote, even though I know surprisingly more about Christian mythology and history than a good portion of the actual Christians I've met (quick, name the angel of prostitutes! What do angels look like?). Even though there's a large number of people who consider themselves non-practicing, or atheists, or have since converted to some other religion, the majority of Americans were raised in Christian households. But I have none of that history in my life. There are some obvious, basic assumptions carried by most people that didn't factor into my reality until they were at some point explained to me when I just didn't 'get' something.

One of the best was probably in highschool. Did you know that in England at roughly the same time as the American Revolution, 'jericho' was a slang word for the outhouse? So when one of the Christian organisations had a Jericho Walk for a week, I was confused for days, until I finally mentioned it to a friend and got laughed at for a few hours.

I still remember passing a church somewhere in Kansas and seeing a sign up that said, "There's room on the cross for you."

Seriously, that gave me chills. Maybe it sounds nicer if you're Christian, or were raised as one, but a cross is/was an instrument that handily combined torture and execution. Maybe I just don't have the right teachings to frame the statement properly.

But, despite having never been Christian in a very heavily Christian society, I agree with this post. I hate listening to Christian-basing (or, really, bashing of most sorts. While I can handle saying nasty things about, say, Jeffrey Dahmer, things that blanket entire nations/religions/ethnic groups/sexualities/etc can get irritating). Sure, I've put up with my fair share of shit from closed-minded morons who were justifying their attacks behind the Bible (including one nerve-wracking incident while I was in seventh grade in which a group of guys threatened to tie me to a desk and burn me to death. Lighters were actually coming out before it was stopped), but I've listened to an amazing amount of shit from other people who are claiming to be open minded.

How fair is it to have a winter pageant, and have something talking about as many holidays as could be researched, except Christianity? Because, you know, someone could be offended. Or what about demanding that crosses be removed from city or county seals (it happened to Edmond, here in Oklahoma, and to Los Angeles County) because people think it's offensive?

We have the first amendment, which I treasure. But the first amendment means we all have the right to practice our own religions. It does not say that you have the right to never have to see anyone else practice their own religion, or see symbols of anyone else's religion.

I've never had a problem with the door-to-door soul saving crew, either. Or even the loud, enthusiastic sorts who would plant themselves on campus and scream at the passing students. And the little old men who would set up and hand out little Bibles or whatever were actually quite sweet. I've been told that it's different, dealing with people when you aren't Christian, and actually got it as an excuse for been a scrooge around Christmas. Which came out of people who call themselves open-minded and accepting.

I call bullshit.

I guess it's just easy to pick on Christians in a time when any majority automatically equals either mindlessness or evil. And it takes too much work to look around and say, "Well, that guy who's thumping people on the head with his Bible and telling us all that you'll go to hell if you go to school, or if you're gay, or if you're of mixed descent is a wacko, but he's the exception, not the rule."