So… question. If an atheist says something she’s grateful for, would someone religious count that as a blessing? I looked up the definition of blessing, and it seems to be used with religious connotation… so I don’t think I’m allowed to use that terminology..but my husband does. There’s a lot I don’t think is appropriate for me to say.. But then if I don’t, my husband either thinks of it differently, or someone else thinks I’m rude, etc. Like, it’s socially appropriate to say, “Bless you” when someone near you sneezes right? Well.. as an atheist.. I find that inappropriate. BUT… if I were to say, “excuse you”, or stared at them til they were done wiping their nose.. it comes across pretty rude right? Or like, where others say, “OH MY GOSH”... I say “Oh My God” and I’m going to blame that on years of Southern Influence. BUT if I were to say, and I totally do sometimes depending on the crowd, “Oh everyone else’s God”, it’s rude. Especially in Mormon culture. I remember when my entire 4th grade class shushed me because it was mortifying coming from the south and not knowing that that was something that was not aprops here. As an adult, I’ve grown to understand, some can say offensive things to me, and I can handle it. Unless it’s politically incorrect, or super offensive, they probably have no idea. And, if I want to build rapport with them I let them know, that offends me, and we both move on. Depending on whether or not they continue to use that terminology that offends me, decides whether or not our rapport building continues, or I look at myself and decide, whether or not it’s even worth it to make a fuss. For the most part, I know that people don’t mean to offend others in casual conversation, and vice versa. People don’t usually express frustration anymore because they’re over 11 years old, and understand that “Oh my God” is just me expressing exclamation. Not their version of insulting their God. HOWEVER, I do think almost every time, ugh.. I shouldn’t say that. Alas, it just slips sometimes. It’s hard to re-wire 30 years of conditioning.
Anyway, what do you guys think about censorship due to religious reasons? Like, are they just words, or should you be careful? What about the opposite? Like, when someone says, Hey I’m an atheist… would you be offended if someone was like, ok well i’ll pray for you? LOL. I can’t count how many times people were like, we’ll, you’ll change your mind… or, ok well i’ll use my religion to hope you’ll change… etc. No matter how many times I’ve told a few people I’m atheist I still get memes and such that are super religious saying, send this 20 times and you’ll get blessings, or whatever. I mean… you wouldn’t like tell a person who’s Muslim that they should be christian and that their religion should be omitted from their lives, etc. etc. It just sounds mean… just kind of calm down, and be ok with who they are. Don’t be upset. It’s not about you. It’s about me. Like, I don’t feel like I want to blame a higher being for things that go wrong, that’s my problem. But, when things go right, I want to make sure I feel and take credit and be responsible. I did that. I did well. I need to be responsible for my life. Take control. If I believed in a God.. i’d be a really sad and angry person. I used to be actually. I blamed God for being abandoned by my mother, and for being abused multiple times, etc etc. It was hard. I never knew why a higher being, would put me through that, and here’s the thing. Sometimes, I’d tell that to people and then I would get responses like, well it’s because he’s testing you, or they say… well it’s to make you stronger… well shit. I would honestly take being weak over being put through the stuff I’ve been through. It seems like a shitty cop-out.
For Craig, religion seems to be what he needs to be happy. Going back to the idea of conditioning.. He doesn’t know anything else. He has learned that when he needs help, he needs to pray. When he wants to do kind things for people, he needs to be Godly, and do a service. It’s his guidance. His therapy. And that’s absolutely OK. If he needs that to be happy, he should do that. And I should support him. Because I love him. I want him to be happy.
To be continued. Especially since I could rant about conditioning someone to believe in religion since the time they’re born. I mean Catholics get baptized as babies.. Then have a communion at 8. Mormons get blessings (the equivalent to a baby baptism for Catholics) and then baptized about 8 years. Doesn’t that seem a bit young? I mean.. To make such a life changing decision for them, or condition them to believe that’s correct, without explaining all the options is a little one sided. Xander is being raised agnostic. And he sees both sides.. But again, more to that later.