#i literally have nothing to do with christianity i was raised muslim but oh sorry guys i don't know about every obscure refrence | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lnights · 2 years

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☕ Christmas!

Ooof alright.

So first I'll say I do like all the house decorations I see for Christmas, they're pretty cool and there's a few houses in my neighborhood and my folks neighborhood that go all out on decor displays for Christmas and Halloween so those are cool to see, and it's nice to be able to get stuff on sales and chocolate oranges only ever really show up around this time and I love those.

Rant section: maybe don't read if your a fan of Christmas.

TL:RD I think Christmas brings some fun things around this time of year but there's a lot I don't like about it, even if I kinda go along with it because of my in-laws.

Tbh I'm saying this as someone whose lives in the US and has their whole life, I don't know how different it is in other countries.

IT FUCKING DOMINATES EVERYTHING!

Days off school and work? Totally centered around it (assuming you don't work retail, if you do you just suffer longer hours until the 25 then you're allowed to die)

I saw fake Christmas trees being sold in fucking September this year. SEPTEMBER.

*angry bat squeaks*

And it's everywhere and every year I see people whining and trying to acted like there's a "war on Christmas". Why? BECAUSE NOT EVERYONE CELEBRATES YOUR CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY KAREN!? And if anyone isn't shoving candy canes up their ass is apparently attacking it.

Because Starbuck doesn't put "Merry Christmas" on their holiday cups anymore, but "happy holidays" or more benign winter stuff like snowmen or flakes that?

It's not like THERE'S A BUNCH OF OTHER HOLIDAYS IN WINTER. and of course there's people that just don't celebrate any of it.

I was raised in a different religion than Christianity so my family never celebrated Christmas, and I legit had people feeling sorry for me when they found out and I just 🤷🏻‍♀️ didn't care. It's part of another religion, why would I care about it?

"but don't you want presents?" No? Plus my birthday is in January lol I'll get presents.

"oh but you don't have to celebrate the Jesus part!" It's. A. Christian. Holiday.

"it's really more cultural." Yeah Christan culture.

And then there's the fact almost everything attached to Christmas (yule logs, wreaths, trees, stockings, probably lights, etc) Was ripped from other winter holidays (Saturnila, yule, solstice etc) with the express purpose of converting pagans.

Also, historians believe Jesus' birthday was most likely in June, even that was changed to put Christmas with more holidays so they could convert more people.

And before someone comes at me I am talking about the history of it, this is all documented history. Has it morphed somewhat since that time? Yes.

I hate the assumption of everyone celebrating it. It's so enmeshed in the culture here even though we have so many different people and beliefs. You literally can find someone from anywhere here and basically every belief structure, it's one of the few things I like about my country (my state alone has a good sized communities of Muslims, Jewish, Asatreu (Norse Pagan) and Wiccan) and people get pissy if you don't play make believe with your kids about a fat man on a red suit.

Aaand somehow I've been roped into celebrating it every year with my in-laws because my SO is ex-catholic. Please don't think me a hypocrite, they're aware of my views.🫣

Look, I really have nothing against people celebrating it, religiously or not, ultimately it's a time to get together with people and I hope people do that, spend more time with people they like (the cultural pressure to be with family even if they're awful is another thing that can go though)

#answered asks #im an awkward 🦇#rant #spectralstormcloud

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autumngracy · 7 years

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can i just say that i appreciat that ur open about ur atheism? i've been an atheist for around a decade but the majority of my friends including ppl that i'm pretty close w/ are very religious and i've always been a little scared to tell them that i'm atheist. i don't want them to think less of me for it. so i really, really appreciate ur courage about your beliefs.

Oh, man, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I still feel uncomfortable telling people too, sometimes, because I don’t know how they’ll take it. Console yourself, at least, that even if they did reject that aspect of you, it only indicates that they are closed-minded, and not that there is something wrong with you. It’s more of a “their problem, not yours” kind of thing, but I know it sure as hell doesn’t feel that way when you’re the one facing the consequences.

Like a lot of other things, visibility is critical for acceptance and understanding. So I’ve been trying to be more blaséabout stuff lately (mental illness, sexuality, political opinions, etc). Even so, religion is the one thing that remains very hard for me to discuss with people! Especially because of how complicated things actually are for me.

(this got long, so, uh, ramble under the cut)

I was raised Methodist. My dad taught an adult version of Sunday school. My family was religious, but only in an observational sense, and a “I’ll pray for people” sense, not in like a bigoted or strict way. Very casual stuff.

But even then I was afraid to question things openly. It’s very ironic how you can have people who really don’t read their own holy texts, or really know very much about their own religion, but who will snap and defend it tooth and nail when (deeply) questioned on stuff like logic, even when they’re clearly not 100% sure what they’re defending. And that’s just the laid-back types. God help you (haha) if you actually try to have a meaningful theological conversation with a born-again, literalist type.

My brother became an atheist at some point early on, and I always had a vague disquiet about observing certain religious things, or the stories we were supposed to believe. I like knowing the reasons behind everything, so even as a kid I hunted for facts and origins of stuff. Simply through researching the origins of modern holiday traditions I ended up finding paganism, and for many, many years quietly sought information about many different sides/types of religion.

When I was doing this it felt extremely taboo, because I approached it with a willingly open mind, and not simply as a Christian. I actually read through the first half of the bible at the ripe old age of like, uh, 13 or 14, trying to better understand the religion–and hilariously THAT was an even bigger factor in me becoming an atheist. Many people share that sentiment, too. When you actually sit down and read the source materials for these things, it just … well. Things become clear.

Anyway. My unease with Abrahamic faiths, and some other major faiths, combined with my curiosity and love of the occult led me to become at first a “Christian Wiccan” (ugh), then (quickly thereafter) just a Wiccan, and then, after a long deliberation, an atheist.

This whole transition was SUPER uncomfortable for multiple reasons. First, I felt uneasy, always looking over my shoulder, you know, either for angry people or an angry god. Secondly, my parents didn’t like it and tried to dissuade me, leading to many awkward conversations. Thirdly, my already atheist brother would express pride in my skepticism but at the same time tell me it was only inevitable that I would become an atheist, mocking me for keeping any ties to religion at all. If he hadn’t been one of those arrogant kind of atheists, and hadn’t made digs at me, I probably would have become an atheist even sooner tbh.

Even so I haven’t exactly severed all ties to tradition. I actually still consider myself an Eclectic Wiccan, but I’m an atheist one (just like how there are atheist Christians, atheist Muslims, etc). I’ve kind of looked at religion as a whole and done a lot of soul searching with it, pulling out what I thought the purpose and sentiment behind the traditions and stories were from multiple cultures (see the “eclectic” part). I examined the sentiments of things, and the way doing certain things made one feel, and why.

It’s really hard to explain what I think these days and why I do what I do. I guess it boils down to a mix of philosophy, anthropology/history, and community. I see the worth in certain aspects of religion, in the sense of them being stories with a moral. The moral is the important part. You know how in the bible Jesus would tell all these parables (moral stories obviously not based in reality) to get across an idea to prove a point? That’s literally how every religion is to me, They’re all parables. That’s the best way I can explain it to people like my mother, who want to understand but are firmly rooted in religion and don’t intend to change.

The problem these days with expressing skepticism is that people are very closed to it. Even if they can understand why YOU feel a certain way about something, they may never ask themselves the same questions in earnest.

So many people view atheism as a destruction of society, of morals, of all structure to life. Some people even see it as their own religion’s view of evil (Christians viewing atheists as Satan worshipers, for example. Sorry, but, uh … Satan is a Abrahamic concept?? lmao) People see atheists and they’ve been conditioned to either think “EVIL!” or “poor, lost soul in need of guidance”, when the reality is … neither.

There is this toxic problem of religion having a stranglehold on morality. “Only the religious can be ethical, understanding, humble, etc” … It’s so untrue. In fact in many ways atheists can be MORE understanding, humble, moral, etc. than those who strictly adhere to what they believe are divine laws. The general point of religion is to be this system of philosophy that is told through stories regarded as true, rather like a “morality for dummies” kind of book. But if you can understand the underlying principles of that morality, you don’t actually need the fictitious examples to go back to for reference.

The problem inherent in all religions is that they have become so complex in their iterations, so needlessly convoluted, that they begin to lose sight of their true purposes. They can even spur concepts that go AGAINST their true purpose, like racism, xenophobia, homophobia, sexism, etc., and in those ways can be very damaging to society–a society they are meant to heal and bring together.

There are many people, even religious people, that are aware of that too. They gloss over certain bits of doctrine in favor of the larger picture of love and acceptance, and honestly, bless those people.

Anyway. I know I made this super long for no reason (but that’s just what happens when someone gets me going on theology). I guess what I’m wanting to say is, despite what many might think, there’s nothing wrong with being an atheist, nor should you be made to feel ashamed of it.

There’s a big stigma surrounding it because of so-called “intellectual elitism,” and people like to whine that only narcissists and assholes who think they’re smarter than everyone else are atheists, but that’s really unfair. There are certainly some atheists who openly mock religions, and are as bad as determined missionaries when it comes to converting people … but that’s their personality problem, not everyone’s.

Being an atheist doesn’t mean being an asshole (that’s a choice). Atheists can actually be some of the kindest people around. And it really does require a great deal of intelligence, empathy, and bravery, to work oneself past religious dogma, especially if you grew up indoctrinated with it.

So I understand why you feel you can’t safely disclose your beliefs (or lack thereof) to people, but I am proud of you anyway, and I don’t want you to feel like you should be embarrassed about it, okay? As long as you have a kind heart, it doesn’t really matter what you do or do not believe. Maybe if you approach the subject from those familiar angles, it will be easier to explain, and you can one day not have to hide anymore.

❤

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