For the record: I am NOT a Christian (at least not in the traditional/accepted sense). I do not believe in a single "God" (with a capital "G") who is omniscient and concerned with the individual lives of 6 billion people. I especially do not believe that such a being placed "his" "son" on this planet to teach the rest of us how to live and then sacrificed himself to "save" humanity from its own sins.
Ultimately, I guess that I am an agnostic with potential animist leanings. As trite as it may sound, I'm more inclined to buy into the George Lucas view of "The Force" than anything else articulated in the last two thousand plus years. I kind of believe in Karma, only because I've seen both good and bad actions in my life come back to me.
So, let's get down to the title of today's theme. It is inescapable. We live in a Christian nation. Regardless of the placaters and the rallying of the leftists, Christianity might as well be the national religion in the United States of America.
Fine. Go ahead and keep the Fundies from having the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in front of court houses. But, dear friends, don't kid yourselves. We live in a nation which mightily acts and espouses on the Christian religion.
While the evidence surrounds us daily, there are a few "in-your-face" factors that bring it home for me. This country is blatantly driven by materialism and profit. However, virtually every retail outlet in the nation closes on both Christmas and Easter. Most close on Thanksgiving, which isn't a Christian holiday, but is embraced by the vast majority of Americans as a day to be 'thankful' in a spiritual sense (which is typically (at the very least) monotheistic in practice. Really, can you envision an Atheist bowing her head in 'thanks' to the universe for the past year's blessings?
I am not against observing Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving. I am not complaining about the lack of shopping options on said holidays either (after all, there is always the Internet). What I quibble with here is the delusion by my left-leanng brethren that the United States of America is not, and should not be, a Christian nation.
Folks, wake up and smell the coffee. Even if the constitution tried to protect the rights of individuals to practice their own religion, we are a Christian nation. The beauty of the Constitution is that it gives the freedom of its citizens to practice whateve religion they are inspired to follow. However, as a Nation, as a Culture, GET OVER IT:
The United States of America is a Christian Nation
Even if it's Constitution does not dictate or encourage the practice of that specific religion.
Believe me, it gives me no great joy to state this. However, I live with Christianity every day.
I have found that it is in my best interest to understand the basic tenets of Christianity, and to know when the major holidays are (whether they are observed by large organizations or not). I am also trying to familiarize myself with the Bible more deeply.
If I lived in a Muslim country, I would do no less. As an Agnostic (Unitarian Universalist, by label) I know that I am a faith-minority. In order to survive, and not be marginalized, it is always better to understand the beliefs and thinking of the majority. While this country is quite inclusive of all creeds (at this time), you never know when the situation might change.
So, I implore all those who are not followers of the core Christian faith: Honor your own traditions. However, learn as much as you can about theirs. They are the majority. At minimal, the knowledge may improve your stature with a few of them. Then again, you never know when that knowledge may help you understand and work with them, the majority of your fellow Americans.
[ Sorry, I hate discussing religion or politics, but it seemed unavoidable today when everything but the movie theaters were closed. It did remind me where I lived. ]
5 comments:
I don't disagree with a lot of your points, but I think we are a Nation of Christians as opposed to a Christian Nation. It sounds like nitpicking, but it's a distinction with a difference.
It is true that life revolves around the major Christian holidays, but, at least for the moment, the Dogma is not law.
I appreciate your distinction. And, while the Dogma is not the law, the Dogma is the Culture. I would be willing to accept your change in word order of "A Nation of Christians" if the Christianity were not on of the largest influences on American culture.
The United States of America is not alone in its position as "A Christian Nation". Many states in the EU are also Christian Nations. The only difference between those nations and ours is our this constant battle we fight amongst ourselves between the Liberal Constitutionalists and Conservative power block.
We are the most fair-minded nation on the planet. Unfortunately, no one is perfect. Therefore, whether we are viewed as a Christina Nation or a Nation of Christians, we must understand that, as a society, as a populous, that is how we act and how we appear to the world.
It indeed may be semantics...legally, and this *is* significant, we are not a Christian nation. Culturally, of course we are--with varying degree, every nation with Western culture as its base is Christian.
However, one need not actively study the Gospels in order to understand this (although I naturally espouse this); one need only be perceptive.
The analogue most relevant to our Blog hostess is that legally, we are not a nation of men (androcentric) but culturally of course we are, and it behooves all who are not male (and White, really) to be aware of it, for the same constructive reasons outlined in the blog.
Equality - religious and otherwise - is not innate and thus must be ackknowledged as such, but at least in our nation, it *is* legalized.
It's important to be loudly WHAT YOU ARE so the Christians can get used to you -- not vice-versa. I don't disagree that it's helpful to understand them, but they need to practice tolerance, and we need to eradicate the Christian elements in the culture. We've worked on bigotry and anti-gay sentiment, the next thing to work on is anti-atheist sentiment.
There are certainly places where you can breathe a deep breath of intelligence and tolerance. Let's make those places grow. It sounds to me like you've given up.
I haven't given up. However, it is disheartening to see how narrow minded so many Xtians really are. And, it is frightening how much their influence seems to have grown over the last couple of decades.
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