That’s it! I am fed up! I have had it! I am abhorred,
appalled, nauseated, outraged, repelled, repulsed,
revolted and many other synonyms I can’t think of at the
moment. I have simply had enough. I like to think of
myself as a patient person, but my patience has been worn
out with Christians.
I know, I know — you will tell me that not all Christians
are the same. You will tell me that I can’t judge the entire
group on the actions of a few. Well I have witnessed over
and over again the actions of “the few” and they seem to
match overwhelmingly the actions of the many. And
those actions show nothing but disrespect for any person
who does not fall on their knees before some nonexistent
deity.
I know you are asking what exactly was the proverbial
“straw”? Well actually, it was a few things within the past
couple of weeks. The first thing is the reaction of religious
people towards the tsunami. I’m not just talking about the
world-wide reaction as John describes in his column, I am
talking about the reactions I have heard from local
Christians of all sorts. Most try to use this as an example
of God’s great power. Let’s see if I get this right — God
chooses to show how glorious he is by killing over 150,000
poor SE Asian people. Sounds like a real asshole to me.
The entire problem here is that these people are all trying
to find one thing — a “reason” for why this happened.
These people simply can not use their brains to find the
more scientific answers — it’s just easier to say “God
wanted it to happen”. Well that’s a load of crap. Yes
there IS a reason for why this happened. It’s called
PLATE TECTONICS! Plate Tectonics is the movement of
the various massive “islands” that float on the earth’s
magma. Occasionally, these plates get pushed under or
over one another. It’s just that simple folks.
Why must people insist that there be some greater
“reason” for these (or any) events? It’s just so easy to say
“God made it happen” — this way they don’t have to
engage their brains for a more scientific and rational
explanation. The plan truth is “Shit Happens” so deal
with it. Stop trying to find some sort of “greater meaning”
because there simply isn’t any.
The other proverbial straw was recent conversations with
my sister. You might recall she was one of the members
of my family who boycotted my Atheist wedding. She
recently sent me a letter apologizing profusely for what
she and the family did to me. She was interested in
establishing ties once again and I was willing to give this a
shot. So this past week we’ve spent several hours talking
on the phone. I have learned that she is no longer
“Catholic light”, but rather she has joined some extreme
evangelical church that some of her co-workers attend.
She informs me how in the past year the “power of
prayer” has changed her life. This seemed strange to me
as I learned that she had two bad falls down the stairs and
also learned that her place of employment is closing up —
but she informs me these were GOOD things! She also
managed to buy a house she is crazy about and that’s all
thanks to God and the power of prayer. She says she is
the happiest she has been in her life — and I don’t doubt
her. I then informed her that since I became a Secular
Humanist, the past 5 years have been the best of my life. I
found a wonderful man who is now my husband, we have
a great house, car, pets and are even making plans to have
a family in a year or so. I told her that good things have
happened to me without God, prayer or any of that stuff.
She didn’t take that revelation very kindly.
My sister and others have been talking about how the
tsunami shows us evidence of the “end times”. These
people are so desperate for the world to end they are
actually excited by these awful natural disasters. These
same people look at the Middle East with gleeful hope
that things will get worse because this is also a sign of the
“end of the world”. People have been claiming that the
world is going to end for the past 2000+ years and you
know what? It’s starting to sound like a broken record.
These people are so sure the world is ending they have no
desire to make things in this world better for future
generations. Why worry about global warming? After all,
the world is going to end and God will make everything
good again. Cleaning up the environment? That’s a waste
of time since the world is ending. Helping those in the
third world better themselves? No need since the world is
ending. See how that can work for EVERYTHING? I
wonder why these people even bother going to work,
paying their bills, mortgage, car payments or heck even
going to the doctor to get better — after all the world is
ending!!
My sister went on to further inform me that she has no
problem talking about God wherever she goes. She says
she doesn’t care if people hate her. She says all that
matters is that one day she just might brainwash — er, I
mean “inspire” — someone to follow God. I told her that
kind of behavior was rude and just plain tacky. I told her
that her rights end where mine begin, but that didn’t
matter to her — all that mattered was her spreading the
word.
I went on to inform her that some of Reed’s and my
friends are gay. I asked her if we were to ever get together
how she would react to this. She told me that God tells
her to love everyone, but she would have to tell our
friends that God doesn’t approve of a gay lifestyle and I
imagine she would go on lecturing them about all sorts of
Bible nonsense. Well, I guess that rules out me ever
inviting her to any of my parties!
I went on to make a comment about how people shouldn’t
force religion down other people’s throats. I gave the
example of prayer in school and how this was inappropriate.
She disagreed and told me that some children are not
taught about God at home and how the school might be
the only way these kids learn about God. I told her that it
was the parents’ right not to expose them to that kind of
superstition. I also went on to ask her who would get to
pray in the school? Do we have 15 minutes of Catholic
prayers, then 15 minutes of Mormon prayer, then 15
minutes of Moslem and so on — at that rate the kids
would not have time for REAL learning! She didn’t
respond to me, and I assume it’s because what she
REALLY means is there should only be prayer to HER
god.
Well, that’s about when things kind of fell apart in our
conversation. I emailed her once during the week and I
left her a message on her answering machine, but I have
not heard back from her. To be honest, I can’t say I am
disappointed about that. I somehow get the feeling her
only REAL motivation for contacting me was to somehow
convert me to her religion and I made it very clear that
simply wasn’t going to happen.
If she DOES end up contacting me, I am going to have to
lay down a few rules on what I feel is appropriate
behavior when we are together. If she does not want to
set aside her religion and have a pleasant conversation,
I’m not sure I want to continue the relationship. Because
as I stated earlier, I am fed up! I have had it! I am
abhorred, appalled, nauseated, outraged, repelled,
repulsed, revolted.....
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2006 Angela C. Byers