As stated in my first post, I am not a particularly religious person. I have spirituality in my life, but as far as conforming to a sect of organized religion, it's just not for me. I had explored many avenues of religion before settling on 'pagan'. I can't say Wiccan, because that just doesn't completely fit, and I am SO tired of having to defend myself when the topic is brought up in mixed company. So I stick with 'just pagan'.
I am just someone who tries to follow the Wiccan Rede, a very simple rule..."If it harm none, do as you will". I even tidied up the language as Old English makes people even more convinced I should be burned at the stake. Anyway, it seems like a very simple and obvious rule, that when you really think about it, applies to absolutely everything. In my mind, it makes the 10 commandments moot and it makes the various 'rules' of so many religions nothing more than lace trim on the dress.
If you are always keeping in the back of your mind: If the action I am about to take is going to hurt someone (including myself!), then I should find another path. And conversely: If the action I am about to take affects no one else's life in a negative way, then I am free to do what I choose. Very simple and highly applicable to everyday life...that is, if you choose to think about your actions and consequences beforehand. Again, this is just what fits ME, and my life, and my beliefs. I have no problem whatsoever with people practicing whatever it is that turns their cookie, so long as it is not harming someone else. If you don't agree, or it just hurts your sensitive feelings to even THINK of someone not believing the exact same thing as you, well tough fucking shit. Close-mindedness is not an excuse to take away someone else's right to express himself.
These last few years, there has been a bulldozer taking down anything and everything that is religiously symbolic to one particular faith. Schools can no longer have Christmas plays, they are "holiday festivals"...ok, fine, I can accept changing the name as it does particularly exclude other faiths. But to strip those plays of having any 'religious' effects is just ridiculous. The fact is, whether it is Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, etc., the HOLIDAYS are in fact about RELIGION. We are not all celebrating the same event, but it is all religious in origin. Take your holiday play or festival or whatever is politically correct and integrate scenes that celebrate the various faiths' holiday rituals.
Condo associations have fought fellow neighbors because someone chooses to put a religious symbol on their own door, or decorate for a holiday in accordance with their faith. How fucking sick is this? Why should your disdain of religion strip away someone else's right to do with their home as they choose? Are your virgin eyes going to explode out of your insipid head if you happen to glance upon a Star of David?!?
I came across this today while browsing Fark.com and got a little sick to my stomach. The idea that we now have to gloss over HISTORY because to even SPEAK the word "Christian" is taboo, is just maddening. The future of humanity is a very grim sight in my eyes. I am sick to death of the people that want to obliterate that one thing that really makes us human...the ability to recognize that, in whatever way it may be, we are all connected. This is a simple scientific fact, this is not based on religion, this is based on genetic connections to each other. Whether you subscribe to the Evolution or Creation theories, they all come down to the fact that we are all cut from the same cloth. Many of us choose to celebrate that oneness through spirituality. Why in the world would anyone rally against that??
I am sure plenty of people will rebut my argument by citing all of the atrocities that arose from religion. No doubt, zealots who believe they know what god wants, scare the living shit out of me. These people obviously have their own agenda, and what they are carrying out in the name of god serves no greater good than their own. But for every psycho freak religious nut, there is someone like my grandmother, who loved god with all of her heart, and prayed to him daily asking for the health and safety of her family.
So there has been good in the name of god, and there has been bad in the name of god. Either way, it's not the fucking point! The point is that religion has existed as far back as our knowledge of history goes. It is an integral piece of who we are as people, and it has shaped our lives and beliefs for thousands of years. To systematically remove it from our places of education is a great atrocity in itself. To take a tour of the birthplace of America, built on religious belief, and have to take out any reference to that religion is completely asinine. We are doing our future generations a monumental disservice in not giving them the whole story. Because if we start there, where does it end? Look back on any point in history and you will see mans' inhumanity to man. All history is drenched in blood, propelled by greed and megalomaniacs. No race or nation is exempt. To remove the parts of history some may not agree with is just more of the same, and eventually, you would have nothing left to teach! Imposing your will onto others, regardless of their beliefs or desires is just another example of how we humans can't get it together. So you don't like Christianity, or you don't feel it has any place in schools or government, so fucking what? Choose, for yourself, to not subscribe to it. But to block the eyes and ears of other people without their consent tells me you got a little too much steam in your over-inflated ego.
The only way we can hope to evolve as humans is to see the truth, the truth about our history - who we were and where we are headed. We need to see all of the horrible mistakes we have made in order to figure out why we continue to make them, and hopefully with that knowledge and some (divine?) enlightenment, we can start to find a path toward something better. Trying to sanitize human history doesn't change what has happened, and it doesn't offer us any better way to make this world a place of peace and safety.
Try to imagine, if we continue to constantly restrict information, beliefs and personal choices, what our world will look like in fifty years? Do I need to go out and beat people over the head with a hardcover copy of "Harrison Bergeron" to get my point across? Do we want to celebrate everone's sameness? The glory of all that is conformed and mentally numb? What's the point of having all of these wonderful differences if we don't get to enjoy and explore them? Being human means having a conscious mind, and all of the exciting opportunities and psychoses that come with it....start whittling away at that and eventually we are all just big, stupid dogs wagging our tails waiting for the dumbass with the over-inflated ego to throw us some fucking snausages.
While I wouldn't mind seeing the Catholic church lose some of its grip on the world, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing violent radicals screaming 'Allah' meet their maker really fucking fast, to pull away from religion, better yet *spirituality*, would leave humans feeling even more empty and alone. Very bad things happen when people feel that lost.
I honestly do try to apply the Wiccan Rede in my everyday life. I make it a point to try to be aware of how my actions will affect others, and reconsider my choices if I know they will have a negative effect on someone else. Ask a friend of mine who has to endure my lunchtime bemoanings (minus my maple macchiato...go to hell Starbucks). I actually fret over whether a decision I am making will negatively affect my Unholy boss - a true sociopath who has treated me like human waste for years. I fret because even if someone is treating me that badly, it is still not up to me to 'stick it to him'. As much as I would absolutely, completey, with every single molecule of my being, LOVE to see this monster fall flat on his face and die a horribly slow, agonizing, painful and lonely death, that's not up to me to make happen. What I have learned from my 'religion' has taught me to focus on those things that I can change and affect - in a positive way. The universe will just have to purge the Unholy One on its own.
So for all of you people that think your version of a homogenized planet is the only way to go, consider yourselves lucky...had I not been allowed to discover my spiritual path, and been smart enough to incorporate it in my daily life, I'd surely have found other lethal ways to deal with stupid fucks like you.
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