I cannot believe I have to write this post but I have been getting some comments from a Pagan Priestess, her friends, and a Buddhist Reiko Spiritual healer claiming I am intolerant towards religion. I am intolerant of organized religions of all shapes forms and dogmas but don't flatter yourself because bullshit however it is phrased is still the same regardless of the individual spouting the dogma of the religion they practice.
I do believe in god and I was raised Christian so I believe in Christ but I also believe in Abraham, Mohamed, and other defined sons of god because I am convinced if indeed there is a hell the vast majority of the vapid airheads that preach the hate filled speech they define as religion are headed there on the express elevator down.
I respect everyone's right to their personal beliefs but if I make a sarcastic remark such as telling some twit that going through life fat, ugly, and a witch leaves room for improvement don't presume to think it was religious intolerance. because they are some important Priestess in some Pagan religion. It is Halloween and a witch is on a broom and flying away and they are ugly and if brain cells were operating one could see the humor but I guess not.
Because of a personal experience I believe there is a god and something after we die but that is my belief and only my brothers and I know what happened and if not for that event I would probably be an atheist after what was done to me by the church I grew up in. Faith lies in each of us not in some fool looking for money and power in the name of his/her particular god(s).
Don't get me wrong. There are religious people I have met and respected and loved such as MLK but most are in it for themselves like my friend in New York that wants her large home declared a Pagan Church to avoid real Estate taxes. In my home town 20% of the prime property was owned by churches and tax free. In the center of town 50% of the prime real estate was owned by churches of different denominations which left the public to cover their tax burden. Most of it was used as commercial property and generated large income. Priests did need a private estate on the ocean to diddle boys even in the 50's. Thank god I was too girly for them.
Leave religion and faith healing and spiritual healing and all the other mumbo-jumbo off my blog. I will admit to enjoying an occasional visit to a good Black Southern Church because I have one near me that sure does know how to have a good time enjoying faith. The rest are clueless.
12 comments:
This witch does not ride a broom! And my religion is quite disorganized. :)
And despite my religion, I am an atheist. My goddess is metaphorical.
Now, you say you think there is an actual deity and that there is an afterlife. To an atheist, at least a militant (or rude) one, that would qualify as mumbo-jumbo. How is your belief different?
Politics and religion are the 2 areas I avoid like the plague. I was raised Catholic and my family never seemed very "christian" to me. Do unto others was always such a load of crap. They did whatever they could in the name of religion to degrade others and lift themselves up above the others.
Like you said, I think hell is going to be awfully crowded.
@Veronica
My belief is based on an event in my life with my two brothers and probably partial indoctrination as a child in religion and it is no better nor is it any worse than any other form of faith. It is my basis for my faith along with my brothers.
I have always looked at atheists as the pragmatic religion or anti-religion and love the fact they ask tough questions of religion about the dogma or mumbo jumbo many preach about including why I have faith.
Just do not come on my blog and start bragging about your life being more meaningful than somebody else because you are a High Priestess. I reserve the right to make fun of any fool, including myself, that does that.
It is an interesting argument though that you bring up. Is religion metaphorical?
@Michelle Marie
That has always been my pet peeve with all religions. Mine is better than yours.
Sort of like some people saying my transsexualism is better than your transsexualism or worse I am and you are not because I can tell with my magic mirror.
Elizabeth, I realize there are atheists are are anti-religious in an almost religious way. But the only thing atheists have in common is the lack of belief in any deities. That's me -- I simply have no belief in things unseen.
As for metaphor, I do think art and religion have a lot of similarities. Characters of the imagination can often seem as real as people we actually know.
My experiment is uncontrolled and completely anecdotal. What I did was to imagine the Goddess (I'm Wiccan) and focus on her while I give thanks for my day -- the good parts and the bad parts. You might call it praying. And even though the Lady is only someone I imagine, the effect on me is powerful. I weep frequently. I feel strengthened. Sometimes, I want to stay longer within the circle that I have cast. I think this nightly exercise has been very beneficial to me.
And this from an atheist with no faith. I think of it as an artistic/psychological exercise. I surmise that it's the same as or similar to the experiences of those who pray to a deity they think actually exists.
Not to sound synchophanic, but I agree with all that you have said here.
I have no problem with people adhering to a belief system that promotes helping and understanding others. I just cannot see the point of having a deity. Unfortunately I too have had some proselytising emails as a result. I generally forward them to each other and let them fight out whose god is best, while I get on with life.
@Veronica
In my life I have had friends of every religion one can think of and we have had good discussions about it and I classify atheism as a religion of self belief. I reserve the right to make fun of them all including my beliefs because faith is an ethereal thing and there is no way to prove what one believes exists.
I think a comment in the movie "Contact" sums it up best when her character was asked if she loved her father and she said yes and he said prove it. A lot of things come down to believing something is factual on faith even in science.
There is no current scientific theory that describes with any certainty what was there before the big bang. A singularity, inflation theory, or a spacial collision between a known universe and another dimension but there is no science that fits "yet". So my fellow scientists take it on "faith" that the explanation is there and it is reasonable but they have yet to discover it because our science fits what happened afterward.
I am a scientist and astrophysics is one of my areas and I agree but I have fun with several dear friends by chastising them that they have faith but don't want to admit it. They have faith a theory will evolve that fits.
Organized religion is dogma and except in rare cases it scares the crap out of me because I do not like to be told how to think. I can do a decent of thinking for myself.
I think you are mischaracterizing atheism. For me, at least, it's simply a lack of belief in deities or anything supernatural. I don't transfer my belief elsewhere. I don't have any belief to transfer!
I'm not sure what you mean by "self belief." We all have some amount of confidence in ourselves. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't be alive. But I don't know what that has to do with faith.
@Veronica
Good point. Searching for an answer I guess but atheists do have "faith" there is no deity.
Religion or lack thereof is a complicated subject. There just isn't any way to prove it either way in my opinion.
No faith here, Elizabeth. Maybe one or more deities exist. I have no idea. But I've never seen evidence for any, so I go with the "working assumption" that there are none. For me, gods and goddesses are part of literature and mythology, and although I love those things, I don't think of them the same way as I do the physical universe around me. I mean, you don't think unicorns exist, right?
The physical universe is the default, the starting point. And I don't go beyond that, except in my imagination, because I see no reason to.
@Veronica
Love your new blog by the way. I am so jealous you have musical talent. I have NONE. The Runaways rule!!
I can respect your view. As a species we know so little about ourselves and the Universe. We think we do but opinions, views, theories, and the physical facts change on a daily basis as scientists make new discoveries based on Hubble, Kepler, Spitzer, etc.
Just yesterday NASA announced they believe one in four suns like ours has planets similar in size to earth in the Milky Way which means the possibility of intelligent life is quite high.
The Universe appears to be so ordered it cannot be an accident as Einstein once said yet man is so random even on earth and life is so random anywhere it seems like a dichotomy.
My faith is based on a single event experienced by my brothers and me which my mom overheard. It happened and that is undeniable. What it was that happened I have no explanation for so I guess that is where faith comes in.
I do not expect others to have my faith because in general organized religion does not engender much faith from me because of the all too common denominator of hate. These religions have prophets that preach love and acceptance like Jesus and somehow manage to turn that into hate and intolerance based on words written by man on a piece of parchment.
My faith is personal as your lack of faith is. It is part of what makes life interesting.
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