(no subject)

[darchildre]

On the one hand, I just had a several minute conversation about how I could be both very religious and not Christian. Grar.

On the other hand, the library isn't open yet, no one else is here, and I can listen to Assassins on my mp3 player. So there's that.

Comments

[silveradept]

Because the other person couldn't conceive of a world where Christianity wasn't the only religion in the world? That seems like a frightening blind spot.

[tricksters_queen]

::blinks:: I am so confused...how has this person never heard of other religions? I mean, there's Judaism, which Christianity is BASED on, and of course there is Islam...Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., and those are just some of the more mainstream ones...the list goes on and on! Are people who are of other religions somehow not religious or something? How would Christianity have the monopoly on being religious? I wholeheartedly agree with your grar. Stupid people.

[darchildre]

I think a lot of people for whom Christian is the default religion and who aren't particularly interested in other faiths tend to think of the words "Christian" and "religious" as synonyms. I mean, the conversation started with us talking about Christmas, me mentioning that I'm not Christian, and him, a few minutes later, saying, "Did you say you weren't particularly religious?" Which took me aback for a moment, because that really doesn't seem like a logical leap in my mind (or yours either) but apparently it was in his.

And then we got to do the Difference Between Paganism As a Religion And People Who Use the Word To Mean Non-Religious* conversation, the There Are Different Kinds of Pagan conversation, and a little bit of Heathenry 101. It was not the most irritating or bizarre conversation** I've had on these topics, and it's not like I don't bring it on myself by being Openly Heathen In Public, but it still brings the grar.

Thus the angry Sondheim music. 8)


*I have given up using the word "heathen" altogether with people who don't know anything about paganism, even though it's what I self-identify as. Just too much confusion to be worth it.

**The most bizarre conversation I've ever had about my religion was with a coworker who's a Jehovah's Witness who asked me if I had ever considered the idea that the beings I was worshiping as gods were actually the nephilim discussed in the book of Genesis. To which I honestly had to tell her that no, I had never considered that. Because why in the gods' name would I?

I've also been asked if I am an idolator, but I'm fairly certain that person was joking. And, I mean, I do use statuettes and such in worship, so I guess I am?

[silveradept]

I can shed a little light on that - for people who believe that Christians and religious are synonyms or one in the same, the are really only two types of people - Christians and the unconverted. Christians, have (The One True) religion, the unconverted do not. So, to say you're not particularly Christian is to say you're one of the unconverted. You can't possibly be religious, because you're not Christian. Bizarro-World Q.E.D..