Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I am going to regret this post one day...probably tomorrow.

The food poisoning at a church potluck incident has led to many questions about my views on religion. Which, honestly, I don't talk about except for with people that I trust and respect and know won't bitch slap me in the name of Jesus. It's happened. OK, it hasn't. But, I envision it happening and I am scared.

I do not believe in God. (pausing for gasps and judgement) I consider myself an atheist. (pausing while someone grabs the smelling salts) So, when I said I was at a church potluck, I got a lot of confused responses.

"Hey, Erratic, I thought you hated organized religion. What the fuck?"

"Um, Erratic, did you get struck by lightening? I mean, just wondering."

"You are an atheist who attends church potlucks...that's weird."

OK, I did not actually get any of those comments word for word. But, the essence of the response was...WHAT. THE. HELL. Which, is understandable. I am going to explain. Now. Fuck, I feel like this is a bad idea. OK, here goes.

I do not believe that there is a higher power sitting on a throne judging whether I deserve to be in heaven or hell. I do not believe that the world was created in 7 days. I do not believe in heaven or hell at all. I believe in spirituality. I believe that when I die, my spirit will live on. I believe in reincarnation. I believe in science and evolution, but I have seen some shit that makes me doubt that when we die, we turn into carbon to provide nutrients to the earth and THAT IS IT.

I believe that religion can corrupt people. But I have seen people that it doesn't corrupt. I have seen people that make sane, rational decisions for their life that are based on logic and cohesive thought. We are all equal. I don't care what race, sexual orientation, religion, social status, whatever. You are no better or no worse than me. Unless you like Sarah Palin. Then I will judge the shit out of you.

I attend a lot of church events with my dad because, honestly, if I believed in God and organized religion, I would attend that church. They are good people (who need to learn a little bit about food safety) who do good things for people around the world. I have had cocktails with their minister, their church ordained a lesbian minister and performs commitment ceremonies. They are non-denominational and don't care what your background is, you are welcome. And not just, you can sit in the service welcome, I mean really welcome.

Also...do you like how one of my qualifiers is that the minister's drink. Wow, seek AA.

So, the moral of the story is, I am an atheist, but I am not an ass hole. And people need to learn that those two words do not mean the same thing. So, I often do not tell people what my religious views are because they assume it means that I murder babies and kick puppies.

Can I just say, though, if there was a God? It would be Lisa Lamponelli.

2 comments:

Ann said...

You know what? I appreciate you posting this. Strangely enough, I know more about your opinions on religion than I know one of my best friend's. She refuses to talk about it. To anyone.

Anyway, here's what I think. Religion, and spirituality in general, is such a personal thing that anyone who chooses to judge someone else for it is a hypocrite. I think the fact that you consider yourself an atheist is just fine. Your experiences led you in a different direction than the most god-fearing Christian, and that's ok.

Myself personally? I was raised in a VERY religious household....and I've since rebelled. Hard. I wrote about it once. I have come to truly despise organized religion. The things people do in the name of religion makes me absolutely ill. Treatment of homosexuals or different races or genders or even something as trivial as political standpoints, it's just not right. I think Kevin Smith absolutely nailed it in Dogma when he wrote, and Chris Rock said, "What He really hates is the shit that gets carried out in His name. Wars. Bigotry." Even if it was written to be funny, it's dead on.

I do not want to do what is "right" because of being scared of some father figure and the punishments he will bestow on me for what I've done. I would rather do what I feel is right because I FEEL it. I'm still in the transition stage moving away from religion (and yes, my transition is running almost a decade strong), but be that as it may, it's MY choice, and no one will have any effect on me whatsoever.

That being said, I'm right there with you on feeling that people are equal. Every single one of them. Regardless of anything, constitutionally protected or not.

I'm going to stop rambling now.

Erratic said...

I appreciate the rambling, I do. Some people just react really poorly to my views, so I choose not to talk about it. But, you know, it's my blog dammit. :)

Also, do you spell it damnit or dammit? This really bothers me because I hate it spelled dammit, but I think that is technically correct. It's why I just stick with fuck.

That was random.