Easter Friday.

[sharplittleteeth]

I hear stories from the chamber
How Christ was born into a manger
And like some ragged stranger
Died upon the cross
And might I say it seems so fitting in its way
He was a carpenter by trade
Or at least that's what I'm told

It's easy to laugh at religion. Hell, I think it's important to laugh at religion.

There are far too many people who mistake fairy tales for literal truth, who justify hatred and bigotry and oppression with "but my imaginary friend said so". If God really was all-powerful and all-loving, he could handle a few jeers. And if he can't, then frankly he should get the fuck out of the god business.

I'm an atheist. Have been all my life, except for a period when I was 18 and felt the presence of God for several months. And then I talked myself out of it, because wishy-washy feelings were not scientific proof.

But I'm not about to get all Richard Dawkins on you here. Quite the opposite.

I don't believe in God. But only an idiot would deny that spirituality is massively important to human kind. We have tens of thousands of years of proof how important it is, from cave paintings to cathedrals. Claiming that spirituality is just a delusion that we will eventually grow out of is like claiming that one day we'll wake up and realise that music is just silly noises.

This stuff matters. Not to everyone. But to many, many people.

Now, I said before that wishy-washy feelings are not scientific proof, and I stand by that. Just because you feel the light in your heart of God, or Buddha, or Sobek god of crocodiles doesn't mean that they actually exist. But those wishy-washy feelings have power in them. They can help you. They can heal you. They can bring people together. They can make your life richer and more beautiful.

(They can also be used as an excuse for all sorts of arsehole-ish behaviour. Please note: belief in a divine power is not an excuse-note to wag off from basic human decency.)

The point I'm trying to make is: scoff your face with chocolate. Make zombie Jesus jokes. This is good. This is proper.

But understand it's okay to be moved by Easter too.

Hope dies and is reborn. You can suffer pain and darkness and still live again. This message is in our blood, in our history. There is succour here. You can draw strength from it, if you need to.

*coughs*

Right...

In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holiday that the Christians nicked off the pagans anyway which is why we have all these eggs and bunnies and other symbols of nature's randiness...

Amen.

Comments

[redcountess]

This sums up how I feel about beliefs too, but according to cavalorn the egg symbolism comes from Lent, see my Facebook for a link to his posts about the Fluffy Bunnies appropriation of Easter :)

[kitling.livejournal.com]

Happy Chocolate Bunny Day!

This post wins my seal of approval

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

Is it a chocolate seal? With little chocolate flippers? Because that would excellent.

[kitling.livejournal.com]

Totally!

[p-cat.livejournal.com]

We´re currently travelling in a Catholic country and I´ve been very moved by Easter. The story of a victim of torture is upsetting, the image of the Pieta especially so. We went to a performance of a Requiem and a Te Deum in a deconsecrated 16th-century cathedral last night and it was very moving. You can leave the ´old man in a nightie´ out of the equation and still find something worthwhile in the Easter story.

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

It sounds amazing. There will be pub and stories when you get back. *nods*

[greylock.livejournal.com]

You can leave the ´old man in a nightie´ out of the equation and still find something worthwhile in the Easter story.

I never have. Easter was, and remains, a big old ball of confusuion to me. I never found any hope in it, nor seeds of hope, nor signs of hope.

The story never made sense.

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

And that's fine, too. The world needs its hard-bitten cynics just as much as it needs its starry-eyed mystics.

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

Although -- I really do think religion is like music. You either feel it, or you don't. It's not something you can rationally think your way inside.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

You might be right.
Perhaps because of Easter (we got a pamphlet in the mail the other day) I've recently been trying to grapple with my nominally Christian upbringing (I think it's fair to say I was never a believer -- I could never make sense of the bible, I accepted there might be some historic basis for the mythology and I believed there was a force called God out there in the same way I believed in the Easter Bunny because there was, at the time, a sufficient basis to believe) and trying to pin-point the stage at which I identified as an atheist/non-spiritual (there was also a discussion with Pxx recently) and I think the honest answer is: pretty much from the point I was capable of making rational, autonomous decisions -- so some time between the ages of 10-12.

But the bible never made sense.

[mireille21.livejournal.com]

Good post.

Reminds me of my experiences in travelling and encountering non-believers who would visit religious countries and religious buildings without feeling the need to adhere to the requested dress and behaviour code (eg. modesty for women, no shoes, silence, etc). Um, you adhere to their code because although their chosen faith may mean nothing to you it is *very* important to them, and respect is imprtant too. You are a visitor in their house, their house of worship. M'kay?

[kat-travels.livejournal.com]

Bam, exactly. Nobody has to respect a religion or a set of customs, but it would be mighty nice if they could respect the other people.

[kat-travels.livejournal.com]

I think I'm more and more convinced that religion might be a justification for a lot of violence, but the root cause is plain old human (mammalian) nature. If it's not the book and the big man, it's the colour of their skin or the suffering of your ancestors. None of those reasons are more valid than any others. It's just a vehicle, sometimes for death and destruction, sometimes for nobility, happiness and grace.

[futurelegend.livejournal.com]

But those wishy-washy feelings have power in them.

You hit the nail on the head here ;)

Organised religion seems so very far removed from personal spirituality these days (actually, has done for many centuries). Which leaves many people in an awkward limbo because they can tell that religion is mostly just a bunch of game-playing, petty crap but there is no other clear path in the conventional paradigm to find/develop connection with one's self and with the universe.