Not really (more like not in a million fucking years.) But a conversation I was having with an acquaintance a few days ago shed some light on the insights of a casual Christian. We were discussing the OWS movement and our differences of opinions and ideas when the conversation took a turn, and I was asked "What do Atheists do for Christmas?" Since it was still a fairly good natured conversation, I gave the run down on the traditions and followed up with "What do Christians do for the holidays since the 25th of December has nothing to do with the bible or Jesus and the common traditions practiced in America have all been borrowed or twisted from pagan celebrations? ;)" I've included the winky faced emoticon to show that I was still trying to maintain a level of snarkyness in the exchange. I got the run down of her families traditions, as well as being told that she wouldn't hold my lack of faith against me, and that she has "been who I am"..
I just about went out of my mind. Let me reiterate, this person is an acquaintance. We have some mutual friends. The comment reeked of arrogance (In my opinion) and was preceded by me being told that she believes faith is a very personal thing and shouldn't be pushed on anyone. Pissed off I fired back that if she was a Christian, it was in fact her duty to spread the word and convert others to Christianity. Which was in direct contradiction to her admitted belief that faith should be a personal thing and not pushed on anybody. If somebody doesn't believe in or agree with a theology as a whole, why subscribe?
Which brings me to my headline... If I can identify myself as being a member of a belief system or group while only holding some or few of the general ideas in high regard, I decided to hit Google up and figure out all the groups I belong to! Turns out that based on The National Alliances general principals that say "We believe we are all part of nature and subject to natures laws" I agree with that, therefore by the rule of picking and choosing, I'm with the national alliance. Wait, they're a bunch of shit fuck bigoted assholes? No worries, I don't believe in all that. Now, the bible has it's ten commandments (old testament, check out that Moses dude.) One of the ten commandments declares- Thou shalt not kill. Yet all over the old testament god is asking his people to kill some other people! Soooo- I take that to mean that we shouldn't kill people, but sometimes there's a pretty good reason so it's cool. I believe the same thing, I'm totally both Jewish and christian!!! Turns out I'm also a communist, a socialist, a republican, a democrat, and a black panther. It's easy when I can lock onto a few ideas, and dismiss the ones I don't agree with or feel are off-putting. I am in fact, none of these things.
Don't get at me with the whole "we're not perfect, just forgiven" shit. That's not what I'm talking about. To reach and fall short is different then to disregard all together. And I still don't give a shit what you believe. Just be about it. Don't half ass it. Fer fuck's sake, if it's your eternal soul your so worried about why wouldn't you take it more seriously?? But please, please don't piss down my leg (or your own) and tell me (or try and convince yourself) that it's raining. If you're going to fly a flag you should also be prepared to defend that flag. If you can't or don't want to, you should get out of the camp.
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