Celebrating Christmas When You’re an Atheist

Sorted under religion on December 29, 2009

Like most people out there, especially those living in the US, I was raised celebrating Christmas; however, I was not raised with the religious background that most believe Christmas comes with. My father, as far as I know, simply does not recognize religion and my grandmother and aunt, who also played a very big role in my upbringing, are agnostic. Christmas was never a time for midnight mass or prayer, although up until a few years ago while my great-grandmother was still alive, there was a simple grace said at Christmas dinner and that was about it as far as religion playing a part in holiday festivities and even that has ceased since there is no one in my family or who gathers at our holiday meal who considers themselves a theist.

While a great deal of people will argue that if you are not religious, you have no right in celebrating the holidays, particularly Christmas. However, I think that what these people do not understand is that Christmas is not merely a holiday of midnight mass and prayer and spirituality, but also a time for family and a time for giving and also a time to truly reflect and appreciate everything that you have in your life and that is something that everyone can truly get behind, regardless of personal religious beliefs.

I recently saw a great video about a book I am now very intrigued about, The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas by Ariane Sherine. It’s a book of stories, essays, personal anecdotes and the like about Christmas and in honor of the holidays, but also with a great dose of science thrown into the mix. The reason why I really love the concept of this book is because it truly shows you what Christmas means to so many different people of so many different religious and spiritual affiliations and how it is truly a time of togetherness, peace, love, acceptance and giving. It is a time to reflect and to appreciate your life and what you have in your life.

You can check out the video that introduced me to the book below:

There is, of course, another facet of Christmas that I did not mention yet, and that is of course, rapid consumerism. Now with being raised with Christmas in a non-theist home, I was of course raised with the belief of Santa and gift. However, also with that and staying true to the real message we are instilled with when it comes to the holidays, in addition to receiving gifts on Christmas morning, I was also reminded of the message of appreciating what we had and in regards to consumerism, what my family was fortunate enough to be capable of providing me with, which you then gain a deeper understanding of when you find out or are told that Santa never really existed.

So I guess it goes without saying at this point that I did celebrate the Christmas holiday. I spent some great time with my family and with my partner’s family and we were fortunate enough to be able to give my partner’s two young children a great Christmas. Of course the magic of the holiday was attributed to Santa, but as they get older it is my hope that they will also be able to remove rapid consumerism from their minds for a small part of their holiday as they get older to take a look around them and truly be able to appreciate their family and see how magical the holiday can be; and that goes for everyone.

Christmas Tree

My Christmas tree before the mayhem of gift unwrapping began.

I hope everyone else had a great holiday and continues to enjoy the rest of their year!



Happy Blasphemy Day!

Sorted under religion on September 30, 2009

blasphemy

As I have stated several times over the years I have blogging on Menstrual Poetry, I am an out-and-proud atheist; Menstrual Poetry also joins nearly 1500 other blogs as part of the Out Campaign’s Blogroll; see very bottom of sidebar for more infomation on that. Being an atheist basically means that I have no belief or faith in any god or higher power whatsoever; I am not spiritual in any way, shape or form and like most other atheists out there, I know very well the discrimination that is bestowed upon those who have no belief in a higher power; and most specifically (if you live in the US) any person who does not identify as either Christian or Catholic.

As some of you may know, any visual depiction of the prophet Muhammad is considered a grave offence under Islamic law. September 30th is the anniversary of the original publication of Danish cartoons in 2005 that depicted Muhammad’s face. Newspapers that published the cartoons were blamed for the outpouring of violence that took over the Islamic community. It is widely believed by those who are religious that all religious beliefs and ideas deserve respect and are beyond criticism or satire. This belief is ignorant and is fueled by fear and it is because of all of this that September 30th has also been deemed International Blasphemy Day.

Description of Blasphemy Day from the Facebook Group:

Blasphemy Day International is a campaign seeking to establish September 30th as a day to promote free speech and stand up in a show of solidarity for the freedom to challenge, criticize, and satirize religion without fear of murder, litigation, and reprisal. Blasphemy Day takes place September 30th to commemorate the publishing of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. The purpose of Blasphemy Day is not to promote hate or violence; it is to support free speech, support the right to criticize and satirize religion, and to oppose any resolutions or laws, binding or otherwise, that discourage or inhibit free speech of any kind. While many perceive blasphemy as insulting and offensive, this event is not about getting enjoyment out of ridiculing and insulting others; rather, it was created as a reaction against those who would seek to take away the right to satirize and criticize a particular set of beliefs given a privileged status over other beliefs. Criticism and dissent towards opposing views is the only way in which any nation with any modicum of freedom can exist. Without this essential liberty, those in power are those best able to manipulate others will suppress and silence dissent by labeling it “defamation” or “blasphemy” or whatever other bogey words they can use to stifle opposition by turning popular sentiment against it. Please, do not let them do this.

International Blasphemy Day is not merely a day, it is a movement and it was created to remind the world that religion should never be beyond open and honest discussion or criticism. Religion has for far too long had such a strong hold of people and of countries, including the US. Religion should be up for debate just as much as anything else and our future, as a society, truly relies on the US amendment to freedom of religion, an amendment that no one who is religious seems to actually acknowledge as a true amendment of the country. Perhaps freedom from religion will be awarded to non-theists soon.

Blasphemy Day has been celebrated on Twitter, which I am happy to say I participated in. Some of the best Blasphemy Day tweets:

You can follow Blasphemy Day tweets by searching #BlasphemyDay. You can also join the Blasphemy Day Facebook group.

Happy International Blasphemy Day, everyone!



15 Year Old Girl Disowned for Having a Brain Tumor Removed

Sorted under religion on July 31, 2009

“Christian Scientists” are (you saw this coming) bat shit crazy. To truly believe that modern medicine and conventional forms of health care hold no weight compared to heavy duty praying is ludicrous, but that is how Christian Scientists live their lives. And that is what they breed their children to believe–even if their children have a brain tumor and are given six months to live. The answer? Fuck that surgery that could help that child live a full life, you better get in your room and pray really hard for god to take that tumor away.

And that is exactly what has happened in the-girl-known-as-Jessica’s case. (Not her real name, by the way.)

Jessica’s was born and raised by a family of devout, fundamentalist Christian Scientists–an oxymoron in itself–and when she was playing at her friend’s house, she fell down with a seizure–most likely something that had also happened at her own, in front of her family. Of course her friend’s family took her to the hospital, where it was discovered that Jessica had an operable brain tumor. Without the operation, Jessica was given a prognosis of about six months to live, but the good news was that they could get her in surgery within the week.

Yay, right!?

No, not quite. Jessica’s family went to visit her in the hospital once they found out about what had happened and before even asking her if she was okay or trying to comfort the child, they began chastising her for going to a hospital to begin with. In fact, they did not ask what had happened, nor did they ask if she was okay because her family believed that faith and prayer are all that is needed to cure ailments–including brain tumors. Her family expressly forbade her from getting the surgery that would save her life and tried to get her to leave the hospital and go to their pastor for extensive prayer. Although her family forbade her to go through with the surgery, she did have the surgery and it was a great success; but even though Jessica had taken her life into her own hands and had made the right decision to have her brain tumor removed, she lost her family because of their inability to see reality through that dark cloud of religious propaganda.

Obviously the only logical explanation here is that Jessica just didn’t believe in god hard enough and maybe if she had, she wouldn’t have gotten a brain tumor. but regardless of her illness, there is never an excuse to have a life-saving procedure done. If god wants you to get better then you just will, miraculously; you’ll wake up one morning and poof, you’ll be all better and will suddenly possess the ability to one-handed cartwheels and juggle while riding a unicycle down the highway. How’s that for god’s mysterious plan for you?

Jessica has been completely disowned by her family merely because she wanted to live and made the logical decision to seek medical care in order to stay alive. Law enforcement officials should be taking a deep look into this case and determine whether or not Jessica was having seizures while in the care of her parents and if she was, they should be arrested and charged with attempted murder. If parents were fully aware that their child was having symptoms that turned out to be caused by something life-threatening, they would undoubtedly be facing charges, but because this family is hiding behind their religious beliefs, people are not immediately calling them out on the consequences that they should have to face for putting their child in great danger.



Pharmacists in Washington Being Forced to Do Their Jobs

Sorted under religion, reproductive rights on July 12, 2009

Plan B Since the pharmacists in Washington cannot be trusted to do their jobs themselves, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday to force them to carry out their duties.

Two Washington pharmacists had filed a lawsuit saying that their religious beliefs should exempt them from carrying and providing emergency contraception to their customers; that the requirement to do so would make them choose between keeping their jobs or supporting a medication that they regard as a form of abortion. However, the federal appeals court ruled that their personal convictions do not outweigh a person’s right to timely medication. When it comes to the fundamental right to freely exercise one’s religion, the 9th Circuit panel made up of two conservatives named to the court by President George W. Bush and a liberal named by President Clinton, wrote that it “does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability… Any refusal to dispense — regardless of whether it is motivated by religion, morals, conscious, ethics, discriminatory prejudices, or personal distaste for a patient — violated the rules.”

Damn straight! I’ve said this so many times before, but for the record, if you are unable to perform the tasks in which your career depends, you should have pursued a different career. I honestly don’t see what the problem is. It isn’t like a woman who walks into a pharmacy to purchase emergency contraception is going to make the pharmacist who gives it to her take the first dose or something. It has nothing to do with the pharmacist; they are merely the supplier of a medication and if pharmacists are going to start preaching when they hold a job that heavily relies on science and taking the lives of these people into their own hands, they should have never been allowed to hold that job in the first place; however, if we instituted that pharmacy could only be seen as a viable career option for non-judgmental people who are going to do their jobs, there would be even more law suits filed for discrimination. Religion is not being seen and treated as it is supposed to; to be religious is to have a belief in a higher power, not to use it as an excuse for why you’re so much better than everyone else.



The New Christian Attempt to Convert–”It’s Not a Cult”

Sorted under religion on June 20, 2009

A few days ago, the boyfriend and I were heading into a store. As we got out of the car, the moment the boyfriend closed the car door, a woman appeared in front of him as if out of nowhere and yes, it was super creepy. And as if that was not creepy enough, she was carrying pamphlets.

Now the difference between me and the boyfriend is that while he isn’t religious and has no belief in a higher power, heaven, hell, or the like (but still refuses to call himself an atheist), he is still very cordial with people who attempt to convert him. I on the other hand, have made up my mind about my religious views and have settled on a clique in which I can identify with (that being atheism), and through the years of people coming up to me in attempts to convert me, I have had enough and admittedly am rude from the beginning of the conversation. The reason for my anger towards religious fanatics who refuse to accept that there are people who do not believe in the same deities as they do is because these people have to know that they are not the first people to ever try to convert me. Christians and Catholics alike pride themselves on their attempts to convert as many people as possible to their “side” and I have really just had enough of it. The first time I had been propositioned to change my religious beliefs was in a mall in my hometown while hanging out with my friends when I was in the ninth grade and I am willing to bet that I would have been propositioned sooner, had I ever left my house. Seven years later and I have really had enough of it, having been propositioned in that same mall several other times, in my place of employment twice, and on miscellaneous streets, parking lots, and so on, all of which while minding my own damn business.

So when this lady held out a pamphlet that she assumed my boyfriend would merely take, thank her for, walk away, and move on with his life, he let out this weird groan/word vomit slew of ‘uhhh’s’ which he described as the sound that he makes when there are just way too many thoughts going on in his head for him to be able to form a coherent sentence in, um, English. Upon hearing this weird groan/word vomit slew of ‘uhhh’s’ the woman then proceeded to tell him to take the pamphlet, that it was full of “good stories” and closed the deal with “It’s Christian, it’s not a cult or anything.” (!!!)

Very unlike the boyfriend, I have no problem telling these people that they will not spark the interest of either of us; that we are both pretty logical folks and that hey, we think, feel, and believe differently than they do. And I bet that if she did not use the line “it’s Christian, it’s not a cult or anything,” that I would have informed this woman of exactly those sentiments in an eloquent manner, but since she brought up the whole cult thing, I had a bit of a mindfuck myself and could not contain the anger I had inside at the mention of her trying to lead someone to believe that religion is not a cult.

And so I told her that why yes, Christianity is in fact a cult. I also informed her that we were non-believers and to put that shit away.

This experience has shown me yet again that religious people firmly and sincerely believe that they are better than all other people on this Earth and they believe that they are surely better than non-theists. This frame of mind that the religious right has, that they are owed something, whether it be your attention and your conversion to their belief system or the respect to let them down gently is completely deluded. There is no way to let these people down gently. They do not take no for an answer; they are very much like a business person on crack; they believe that they are entitled to your attention so they can rack up a number of converts to feel good about themselves or the fact that they need confirmation in their own religious beliefs.

I have never in my life told someone that they should be an atheist. I simply accept that I have my own point of view and I have my own personal beliefs. I am a human being with a life, morals, and principles and I happen to not believe in a higher power and I’m okay with that–I suggest the religious right become comfortable with themselves as well.



True Tolerance, But Not Really

Sorted under GLBTQ, religion on April 18, 2009

Firstly, my apologies for not getting this up yesterday, but as many of you out there may know, yesterday was the National Day of Silence, a student-led movement toward safer schools for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. The National Day of Silence began at the University of Virginia in 1996 with over 150 participating students.

Students who participate in the National Day of Silence in their schools every year hand out “Speaking Cards” that say:

“Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies in schools. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by name-calling, bullying, and harassment. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?”

It seems as if this year the religious right is really on top of its ‘let’s take 5 steps back’ schedule because for the National Day of Silence this year, Focus on the Family came out with True Tolerance, a website that uses hate speech, scare tactics, and bigotry to push a religious agenda full of its usual “The religious right is the only group of people who are allowed to be represented for anything, otherwise we’ll use our money to take your organization down because we simply do not agree” agenda.

I don’t know about you, but just the two words, ‘true tolerance’ immediately says to me that whoever is behind this website is completely tolerant of everyone, no matter what, and of course that is what Focus on the Family wanted to portray in their new site’s name, but what they are really saying is they are tolerant of everyone, as long as they think and believe in exactly what they do.

But oh wait, it gets better. Focus on the Family goes as far as to say that public schools have a “pro-gay agenda” and that public schools have stifled free speech and true diversity by silencing students of faith and those with conservative perspectives. What they are really saying here is that name-calling, harassment, and bullying should be allowed in public schools, as long as the student of faith or conservatives perspectives are the students who are bullying the LGBT population.

It seems a little counterproductive to claim that your free speech, as a conservative and religious person or group is being stifled while actively trying to stifle the free speech of another group of people.



Out of the Atheist Closet

Sorted under religion on April 6, 2009

I should clarify that I have never exactly been in the closet about being an atheist as far as my daily life goes. I have always been very open about my lack of religion/faith and had never seen a reason to keep it a secret… until I realized how downright cruel and determined many people can be once they feel the comfort of anonymity that a computer gives someone. While I have brought up the topic of religion and the many faults of organized religion in a few posts here, I have not exactly worn my atheist pride on my sleeve. Until now.

Out Campaign

Many people find the fact that there are people who reject the belief of a god offensive. There are also a great amount of people who believe that without religion, a person has no basis for morality and thus become god-rejecting serial killers with no morals. I could go on about the myths the religious right have conjured up and the fact that they contain not even a fraction of truth, but the point that I want to bring up is that those who are religious have no problem with and even demand the right to wear their religious pride on their sleeve, preach their religious beliefs to anyone who will listen and even to those who won’t, and their often degrading, judgmental, and cruel words, myths, and badgering are all protected under the first amendment. However, when an atheist speaks about the fact that they are an atheist, it is immediately said that we, the atheists, are being offensive.

In the United States people are very quick to start screaming free speech and freedom of religion from the rooftops, but something I find myself thinking of quite a bit is the fact that while we are told that we have this right, we truly do not. Someone who is an open Catholic finds it acceptable to preach their religious beliefs to those who they may know do not believe in the same god or set of religious bullet points as they do. Someone who is an open Muslim is often criticized and degraded by those same Catholic people simply because they do not believe in the same god or set of religious bullet points. These religions can be interchanged, of course, but in the society we currently live in, religions and lack thereof are most often subjected to the scrutiny of the Catholic church time and again.

It is about damn time that atheists come forward and refuse to be silenced and degraded by both the religious right and those people who firmly believe that we are offensive and it is for that reason that Menstrual Poetry is officially out of the atheist closet and part of the Out Campaign.

Even if the religious have the numbers, we have the arguments, we have history on our side, and we are walking with a new spring in our step – you can hear the gentle patter of our feet on every side.

Our choir is large, but much of it remains in the closet. Our repertoire may include the best tunes, but too many of us are mouthing the words sotto voce with head bowed and eyes lowered. It follows that a major part of our consciousness-raising effort should be aimed, not at converting the religious but at encouraging the non-religious to admit it – to themselves, to their families, and to the world. This is the purpose of the OUT campaign.



The Roman Catholic Church Voices Disapproval of Abortion, Says Nothing About the Rape of a 9 Year Old Girl

Sorted under anti-choice extremism, religion on March 7, 2009

An estimated one million illegal abortions occur in Brazil each year. However, very few women have ever been imprisoned for seeking an abortion.

Brazil has nestled itself into a disgusting and unfortunate (for the lives of millions of women living in Brazil) state of tolerance when it comes to illegal abortion practices and in April of 2008, officials in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul emerged from their cocoon of tolerance and arrested the head of a two decade-old family planning clinic and seizing the medical records of nearly 10,000 women; their crime was providing abortion care. Not only did these officials lack to respect a need for the care this family planning clinic provided, they also invaded the privacy of their nation’s women without a care in the world.

Not only is Brazil a woman-hating nation, they are a young girl-hating nation as well.

Brazil’s latest attack on not only their people, but one young, nine year old girl in particular, is appalling and downright sick.

A 9 year old girl was raped by her stepfather and if that wasn’t horrific and traumatic for that young girl alone, she was also pregnant with twins.

Not only is abortion illegal in Brazil, but Brazil is also dominantly Roman Catholic–*cue the super creepy music*

If you know anything about the Roman Catholics, you know that with any problem, any issue, any frame of mind, question, answer, and etcetra, they are right and you are wrong. Not only that, but they also believe that with their faith comes the “god-given” right to be as outspoken as possible due to the fact that “god” is on their side (and no one else’s.) The pretty much constant degrading tone of Roman Catholicism and its followers has come to be expected, at least by “people like me,” anyway.

It does not necessarily come out of left field when the Roman Catholic Church publicly objects to reproductive freedom, women’s health, and science in general, but for Brazil’s Roman Catholic Church to publicly state that this 80 pound, 9 year old child should have carried twin babies to term and had a Cesarean section and backed up that statement with “It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” is disgusting.

It is in no way acceptable for the Roman Catholic Church to feel as if they have a right to voice any opinion about the abortion of a young child.

The real subject that we should be discussing, instead of the archaic mindset of a lapsed, counter-productive, greedy group of women/victim-shaming bigots is the fact that a comment about the rapist is nowhere to be found. It’s certainly fine to blindly speak out about your disapproval of an abortion had by a 9 year old girl but nothing about disapproving of a man who raped a child.



The Vatican Says Your Pee is Polluting the Environment

Sorted under anti-choice extremism, religion on January 6, 2009

birth control The Vatican newspaper misinterpreted the facts of a recent study about pharmaceuticals ending up in the US water supply.

According to the Vatican, oral contraceptives are the sole culprit for polluting the environment, but that’s not all; the Vatican is also claiming that birth control pills are making men infertile.

The pill “has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tonnes of hormones into nature” through female urine, said Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, in the report.

“We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill,” he said, without elaborating further.

First of all, the Vatican believes in science (you know, that thing that gives us medicine) only when it is convenient for them so the International Federation of “Catholic Medical” Associations is already a less-than-credible resource as far as I’m concerned.

The Vatican has continuously spoken out about their disapproval of women’s rights and Pope Benedict XVI followed suit in October, reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s condemnation of contraception. While it is true that there are many pharmaceuticals that are finding their way into our water supply, to pick and choose what parts of scientific research you want to believe and even publish an entire story in a newspaper about, just to support your agenda is ridiculous. Then again, hey, that’s religion for you–It’s all about picking and choosing and leaving the rest.

So women, the moment you urinate while taking oral contraceptives, the Vatican is holding you responsible for polluting the environment as well as making men all around the United States infertile. This is yet another case of the sexuality and now even bodily functions of women are considered inappropriate or unnatural in some way. Who knew just being a woman could threaten and offend so many people so much. Do we feel ashamed yet?



Should “So Help Me God” be Banned?

Sorted under religion on January 3, 2009

Holy Bible Should Barack Obama leave “so help me God” out of the end of the president’s oath of office during his inauguration on January 20? A number of atheists and non-religious organizations think so and even went as far as to file a lawsuit Tuesday banning the words. In addition, the lawsuit also objects to plans for ministers to deliver an invocation and benediction, knowing that they will discuss God and religion.

As a president who has fought for the past two years for real change to come to America, will Barack Obama voice his support and acceptance for the non-religious community? Do we perhaps have the opportunity to change “freedom of religion” to “freedom from religion?” I highly doubt it. Not only were two similar unsuccessful lawsuits filed for the 2001 and 2005 inaugurations, but the change America will most likely be seeing in the next four or possibly eight years will simply be reversing and improving the damage that has been done to this country by his predecessor. This is not the time where we will see the reversal of the ultimate brainwashing due to the fact that this country is fueled by how far a group of people will go for a religion that they were either raised with or follow on their own accord.

Within the past few years a study was done to predict if and how many people would vote for someone who happened to be an atheist for president. The results showed that an atheist would most likely never see the presidency. But why is that? Does having one atheist president mean that the entire country and all of its people are going to hell? Would that president not take their job as seriously as a religious follower? Do atheists taint the name of America? Many believe they do, and even more so as we saw with this past presidential campaign, people were going as far as to saying that Barack Obama would not make a good president for American solely based on the fact that he was found to be a Muslim, thus initiating an entire “faith forum” where he was forced to prove his devoutness to Christianity.

An an atheist myself I have been subject to ridicule based solely on the fact that I do not believe in a higher power. Atheists in this country are experiencing the same discrimination as anyone who does not accept the government-appointed God as their own. While it was beyond time that we accept each and every human being in this country despite the higher power they choose or do not choose to accept into their lives, I think we have much further to go before we see that happen. In fact, I do not believe that even “freedom of religion” exists in this country at this time.

What do you think? Do you think “So help me God” should be banned from the January 20 inauguration?



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