I’ve finally found something to get good and pissed off about. Well, maybe pissed off isn’t the right word. Passionate… yeah… let’s go with passionate.
If you read the same blogs I read, or participate in the same forums (which, most of you do I think) then you are rolling your eyes right now thinking “is she still on this kick?”
And, if you don’t, let me just sum things up by saying that a blog I read/post on frequently had a comment or two yesterday sizing up all Christians as a bunch of crazy, intolerant fanatics. And it pissed me right the fuck off.
It’s not the first time I’ve seen this sentiment. It seems to be more and more common lately to rail on Christians for being “intolerant” or “holier than thou” - which I find ironic at the very least and hypocritical as all hell. Apparently, it is only OK to stereotype an entire segment of the population and make rash generalizations if you are doing it in the name of tolerance and enlightened thinking.
What surprised me the most about this yesterday was that some of the comments were made by people I “know” here in blogland. In fact, some of the comments were made by regular readers and commenters of THIS blog.
So, in the interest of fairness and full disclosure, I think I should let you all in on something that apparently has not been obvious before now…
I am a Christian. Specifically, I am a Catholic.
And I’m not going to sugar coat that by saying “well I believe what I believe but I’m not really religious”. I’m a practicing Catholic. I believe in the Bible. I attend Mass and Confession and receiving Communion is one of the greatest joys of my life. I teach CCD on Wednesdays and I teach my own children how to pray the rosary and the sign of the cross. Christmas and Easter, for me, are about a whole heck of a lot more than giving presents and eating chocolate covered eggs. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t religious.
I don’t think that my belief in something bigger than myself is a sign of weakness or stupidity. Rather, it is a constant source of strength and hope for me. My faith and my humor are the two things that I simply could not survive without.
And it is because of - not in spite of - those beliefs that I would protect your right to believe what you believe and practice what you practice and love who and/or what you love.
It amazes me how often people will use “tolerance” as a stick to whoop people’s asses with. Tolerance is not an excuse for bigotry of any kind.
Neither, by the way, is “a bad experience with those kind of Christians.” Do you know how many racists I know who will excuse their beliefs because they had a “bad experience” with black people? I was raped as a teenager, and I don’t think that gives me a right to hate all men. LOTS of people have bad experiences, that’s WHY there are stereotypes in the first damn place.
The bottom line is, when you bash on Christians as a whole, you bash on me. Adding some kind of caveat about how I am somehow immune to those insults because I swear and I’m judgemental and I have blond hair instead of brown - does not make it any less insulting. (And for the record, having one black friend that you know works really, really hard does not excuse saying something as ridiculous as “black people are lazy criminals”… if you get my drift)
Most of the shit I hear people spewing about Christians does not apply to me. And it’s not because I’m some anomaly or rare exception. It’s because stereotypes and bigotry and gross generalizations of any kind are more bullshit than not.
I have friends - both online and off - who I adore, who believe different things from me, who even go so far as to constantly make fun of my faith (because it’s hard to let a good school girl joke go untold), but who I know without a doubt love me and accept me at the end of the day. And I am truly, truly grateful for that.
In conclusion, dear readers, consider this your official notice. I am who I am. I have zero interest in trying to make you more like me or less like you, but I am not going to apologize for who I am. And if you can’t handle that because you’re afraid you could “catch what I’ve got” - well, I’ll be sad to see you go. But I absolutely refuse to be anything less than honest about who I am simply because someone else may be too fucking narrow-minded, judgemental and intolerant to handle it.
Updated to add: and to the beloved blogger who emailed me to apologize for any anti-Christian sentiments, thank you. I’m soooo glad to know that my initial impressions about you being one kick ass person were dead on. Your email literally made my heart flutter a bit.
I just know someday I’m going to have to send an email like that to a stupid person that I happen to like.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Like this post? Try one of these! "
RSS Subscribe
Amen. Couldn’t agree with you more.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:06 am
Members of my family and many friends are Catholics/Christians, so I try my best not to bash their religion… or any religion. I fully realize that if I were to do this, I would be bashing people I care about, and that’s not being a good friend or family member is it? Of course, extending the same courtesy to total strangers makes the world a nicer place, and there’s nothing wrong with that. :smile:
December 6th, 2006 at 6:16 am
I’m coming into this discussion after the fact of whatever happened, but I’d like to say that I couldn’t agree with you more about “I am who I am. I have zero interest in trying to make you more like me or less like you, but I am not going to apologize for who I am. ”
I think that your whole pissed-off/passionate rant is great. But I too believe that my faith and my humor get me through life, so I may be prejudiced toward your point of view to begin with.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Don’t mince words with the “passionate” business, Britt. You’re pissed off. And mostly, you’re pissed off at me.
What I said was, “Christians scare me. I’m secretly afraid whatever they’ve got is contagious.”
Yup, that’s me. I was an asshole. I was out of line and I deserve all the scorn you could throw at me. I’m truly sorry that I offended you. I sincerely apologize for that. But I don’t apologize for what I said, because I meant what I said. I just said it really badly. It was a snarky, off-handed remark that was a feeble attempt to sum up volumes of world view in eleven words.
I realize this post is probably not about me only, but I would like to correct something. What I said wasn’t about intolerance, or the intolerance of intolerance. It’s about faith. I don’t understand faith. I don’t get faith. As I’m sure you can infer, I don’t have faith either. It’s not that I’m atheist or agnostic. Those things require faith too, albeit a different kind of faith. I don’t have any faith. I don’t believe in anything.
When I was little my mother took me to the movie theater to see some bible documentary. I can’t for the life of me remember the title, but I think it was narrated by Charlton Heston. The movie was about archaeological evidence that supported events in the bible. When it was finished and we were on our way to the car, I told my mother I still didn’t believe. My mother was shocked that I didn’t believe in God. I was shocked that she did. I was five years old.
My mother suddenly felt it even more important that we go to church regularly. So every Sunday she’d drag my ass out of bed and pour me into a powder blue leisure suit (shut up, it was the 70s) and stuff my butt into a pew. When I was little, I put up and shut up. I played along and I pretended because things seemed to go quicker that way. A big part of me wanted to believe. I tried so hard to believe. I was ashamed that I was different. I prayed that God would show me faith.
My mother is Lutheran, so in the 4th grade I began my confirmation studies. At the beginning, I pretended to have faith like I always had. After about a year I stopped faking it, mostly because I was pissed at the pastor for his adamant refusal to call me Joe. “Joseph is what your mother named you and that’s what I’m going to call you,” he’d say. “It’s a good Christian name and you should be proud of it.”
So I stopped pretending completely. I stopped trying. I stopped praying for faith and I stopped hiding who I was. I was openly defiant. I never did any assignments. I never participated in class. I questioned everything, and I was constantly punished for it. Naturally, I didn’t advance in my studies. Most kids in this church were confirmed at the end of sixth grade. I was stuck in confirmation studies until the eleventh grade, when the pastor finally convinced my mother I was a lost cause.
I won’t lie. Christians do scare me, because I don’t understand them, and while I don’t really think Christianity is contagious, I’m terrified at the thought of going back to pretending just to fit in.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:16 am
This post is just another reason why you’re such an awesome BW.
You will lay it all on the line for the things you believe, and I love that.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:26 am
“Faith” my father was passionate of his faith and always thought us the importance of it. I like you think that without my faith I am nothing, faith is what makes me understand that we are all different and that that is OK.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:01 am
The Chad: Amen. he he - that’s funny.
Dave2: you’re such a better peacemaker than I could ever be
ally bean: thank you.. and yeah, it always is a little easier to agree with someone who thinks like you LOL
Joefish:
First let me say, I was thinking about you in the shower this morning. Specifically, I was thinking about this post I wrote yesterday afternoon, the comment you made, and especially the email you sent me. (but still - it was in the shower, so that counts)
I almost took this post down because I DO realize that the specific comments that got me started in the first place weren’t made by hateful people and weren’t meant to be an attack on me. But I decided to leave it up because although it’s not directed at anyone over at that site - it is still something that I felt needed to be said.
As for you? Joe, honestly, I am NOT pissed at you. I was surprised when I first read your comment, but it didn’t take me long to get a little perspective on it. I wouldn’t have given two shits about it if I didn’t have so much respect for you and your opinion in the first place.
That being said - I can understand having a “fear” of something that you don’t understand… I can also understand how hard it is to wrestle with one’s own crisis/lack of faith. When the whole world is telling you to “BELIEVE” and you just can’t - to say it’s hard would be an insulting understatement.
How do I know? Well, let’s just say when I was 14 I decided to tell my devoutly Catholic grandparents at Easter dinner that I thought “Muslim may be the way to go.” And I didn’t say it for shock value.
Joe, in as much as I ask that you respect my HAVING faith, please know that I whole heartedly respect your ‘lack’ of it.
Does it make me sad to think about someone not having a faith in ANYTHING? Sure. Because, as I said, I’ve been able to draw a lot of strength from mine and I hate the idea of anyone ever feeling lost.
But something tells me you’ve found someone/something in your life that helps YOU to not feel lost as well.
The bottom line dear Joe is that I love you lots… and I don’t want you to ever be “afraid” of me. :-)
avitable: :oops: thank you :oops:
December 6th, 2006 at 10:05 am
I applaud your passion, although I really don’t know what caused the problem. The only other blog I see you on regularly is Mist’s blog “To Do”.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:09 am
While I can applaud the pissed offness… I think it might have come out better with a FOABAN thrown in at the end.
I also won’t get into my usual tirade about religion… because I am now expecting an e-mail apologizing for your comment over by Denise about how “I am also NOT a dog fan.”
The fact that you are intolerant of having your leg humped by those deemed as K-9’s… because we don’t care if your Christian, Buddhist, Hindi, Sikh, Muslim, white, black, red, yellow, or green… its all about the leg.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Well, I suppose I’m in the category of friends who tease you about your faith. Although, you do know I tease you because your Catholic not Christian, right?
Personally, I’m just thrilled all to hell you aren’t baptist…
Nothin’ but love for ya!
December 6th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Faith in general is a complete mystery to me, a foreign concept, an alien idea. But as long as you keep thinking about me in the shower, we’ll be cool.
:twisted:
December 6th, 2006 at 11:04 am
THANK YOU for posting this message today.
I too had been keeping up with the comments on the blog you are referring to, except I was too chicken to stand up for my beliefs and post a reply.
Thank you for speaking up for those of us who didn’t.
This was a great post.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:54 am
woo hoo! you go, baby!!
(ps. it wasn’t me, was it? whew! ;)
December 6th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Damn, dude. Nicely said. Why didn’t you link to the offending post in question?
December 6th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Wow. I love this post. You said it perfectly and I admire your courage.
Now if you could just tell me how to NOT think of Joefish in the shower, everything will be okay.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Hey, don’t knock thinking about me in the shower until you’ve tried it.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
The CEO: well, you know how controversial she can be ;-)
NYC Watchdog: LOL - FOABAN
Dawgs are OK. I like Dawgs humping my leg.
AmyD: yes, well, we all know you’re going to hell - you New Age hippie. I just keep hoping if you spend enough time around me I’ll be able to bring you into the light. :twisted:
Joefish: yes - and now I have PICTURES!!
Blonde Chick: yeah… I’m all brave and shit like that
Dawn (webmiztris): of course it was you, you christian bashin’ hobag :mrgreen:
Rich: I didn’t linkt to it because the blog and post and comment that originally made me think of this wasn’t necessarily “in the wrong” - or meant to attack me. I didn’t really feel it was worth sending an angry mob over that way. Really, it just struck a nerve for me because of things I’ve seen all over - online and off.
Jennine: go to Avi’s site. He has about four pictures of himself over there that you can visualize in the shower if Joe is not really your style.
Joefish: YEAH!
December 6th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Holy balls…from this day forward, I do solemnly swear to never waste another moment visualizing Captain (from Captain and Tennille) in the shower again. Not when I have Joefish AND Avi. ~shakes head~ To think of all those wasted gallons!
Am I going to hell for this?
:???:
December 6th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Yes, you’re going to hell for this. I’ll forward your mail if you save me a seat.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Actually, and with all due respect to you, I will always stand up and defend Mist1. Controversial or otherwise. It’s a loyalty thing with me.
December 6th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
I was going to leave a comment about tolerance (I have none), until I saw my name. I am really controversial. For example, today, I had a lengthy debate with myself about whether to take my midmorning nap on the couch or on the bed.
December 6th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
As one of the stupid people, all I gotta say is I don’t rag on xtians because they are not tolerant. I’m not tolerant…well, some of them are too but it’s my problem, ya know?
My issues are with religion in general…any religion not just christianity. Any religions person who would cause destruction based on some odd belief (thing 9/11) is whacked in the head as far as I’m concerned.
I am a spiritual person who does not believe in religion, hence I dislike any religion with an agenda…which is all of them.
December 7th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
I are dumbass when it comes to this shit too! But. I signed up for Bloglines months ago and it’s fanfrickingtastic! You’ll love it!
December 7th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
Well said! I’m one of those holy cussing practicing catholics too! It is possible to be a faithful, religious person and not be a fanatic. Just my $.02. :mrgreen:
December 8th, 2006 at 12:25 am
I’m late as usual, but I will run my mouth just the same. . .
I too am Christian–Eastern Orthodox–and I have several family members who have been beaten, held hostage, and/or killed because of their Christianity. Shame on me for not speaking out over the last couple years in situations like the one you describe, but I’m in a weird place when it comes to my faith right now and I’ve been avoiding the subject of religion so that I wouldn’t have to think about it. BUT I’m making an exception now to tell you what an awesome post this was–especially the point about “tolerance” as an excuse for bigotry.
December 9th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
This is a great post…. this is a perfect post in fact. I love your dedication and passion.
December 12th, 2006 at 12:36 pm