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Feisty Kitty
12-17-2007, 04:34 PM
I have a very good friend who I teach with. She grew up in a home that followed the doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses. She married a man who came from a family of devout Atheists. She no longer practices, although her mother still has one foot in the church. She and her husband don't spat on the subject, but his family gets very nasty about religion in general........

But they celebrate Christmas! And they call it CHRISTmas! They get the tree and the eggnog and the mistletoe, all the while calling religion and anyone who follows it 'weak' and 'foolish'. Just seems a bit hypocritical to me, but then, I am really a 'fencer' when it comes to religion. I am truly agnostic in that I am still searching for what I believe. I do, however, know when something is fishy, and this seems like the ocean beached itself and hung around in the hot sun for a week.

I am not saying that people who aren't affiliated with the Christian church or any offshoot/ cult of it, shouldn't celebrate Christmas, but why trash it only to celebrate what you want from it's tradition? I just think that people shouldn't talk out of both sides of their mouths!

I celebrate Christmas, because I love to give gifts, and, even though he wasn't born on Dec. 25th, Jesus was a pretty awesome dude, and I am stoked to celebrate him and the love and forgiveness he taught. I also celebrate Hannuka (spell?) with my Jewish students (We have a lot of fire going in my classroom, but the fire extinguisher is a foot away!). I know nothing about Kwanza, but I am always cool with learning more. One of my muslim students (Her dad is muslim and mom is Catholic! Oh, to be a fly on the wall when they were hammering that out!) told me about some cool Muslim traditions for this time of year as well, and she brought me a gift to celebrate. I am ashamed I cannot remember what it is called. The point is, I celebrate everything, because I celebrate freedom of religion, the blessing of the constitution and the first amendment, and the beauty of so many different cultures, all who want to share love with others. How friggin' cool is that?!

Just some venting, but I am so tired of all of the hypocrisy I hear in regards to religion, even from Athiests, who are religiously anti-religious. It all seems so silly!

Happy Holidays! Happy Christmas, Hannuka, Kwanza, Muslim-thing-I-can't-remember, Winter Solstice, Festivus, Jesus's B-day party, and anything else I forgot!

TaylorHicksRocks
12-17-2007, 04:45 PM
I am so glad that you keep an open mind! So0 many people tend to think their thoughts and views are the one that is the right one and don't stop and think about any other people viewpoints.....As a Christian I can appreciate what you have said and Jonathon learned all about Kwanza, Hanuakkah and has studied all different Religions all back when he was 5 years old....His teacher taught him about Kwanza and Hanuakkah and my husband taught him about different Religions we want him to grow up informed....

Son of Simon
12-17-2007, 04:55 PM
If you were Buddhist you could celebrate ANY and ALL religious holidays. That's awesome!

Plus you could collect those cool statues of the fat bald Buddha.

I see the Christmas holiday like a really fun sports bar.

You have the old patrons of the bar in there celebrating a birthday.

You might get a local sports team commemorating a wonderful season.

Maybe some married couples came in to celebrate their anniversary.

So no matter what reason(s) people chose to come and celebrate- there's no deliberating the fact that people are celebrating something, and that's what's true and genuine. You can't force the sports team to celebrate the patron's birthday, because they may not even know the patron. Likewise the patrons celebrating the birthday shouldn't feel any less diminshed that other people are celebrating for other reasons.

People are celebrating. And happy. And showing love for their loved ones. I have no right to screw with that, or try to define that for them.

-SoS

Feisty Kitty
12-17-2007, 08:34 PM
Thank you, like minded and beautiful!

X1TX
12-18-2007, 08:28 AM
To think that people who follow a 'religion' are hypocritical is only natural. That's because, as humans, we are hypocritical. But just because we silly humans are all messed up doesn't mean the Message is.

But I do understand your irritation. But remember, be patient. We're only human.......

Feisty Kitty
12-18-2007, 09:04 AM
To think that people who follow a 'religion' are hypocritical is only natural. That's because, as humans, we are hypocritical. But just because we silly humans are all messed up doesn't mean the Message is.

But I do understand your irritation. But remember, be patient. We're only human.......

Patience is a virtue I strive toward, but often miss! I actually think it is funny that the Atheists are as hypocritical as the religious people!

X1TX
12-19-2007, 10:57 AM
Patience is a virtue I strive toward, but often miss! I actually think it is funny that the Atheists are as hypocritical as the religious people!

It's because they're human too..................... They're just as messed up as I am.

Son of Simon
12-19-2007, 11:08 AM
It's because they're human too..................... They're just as messed up as I am.

Don't let athiests fool you into thinking they have "no religion".

The defining (and most dangerous) aspect of a human being is their power to "believe" in something. The only unique quality of a human being that does not exist in some form in the animal kingdom is the very power to develop a stimulus that does not exist...i.e. "believe" in something. All other organisms live their lives by reacting to external or instinctual stimuli. Only humans are crazy enough to make up their own stimuli.

Therefore- the most advanced features of Homo Sapiens are subconscious, imagined, idealized, and believed.

Even the most hardcore Biologist needs to "believe" in inter-species evolution, they use "verses" like "Ontogeny recapitulatess phylogeny", and they HAVE to teach it as theory (because that's what it is- a theory). So even that is, in a sense, a belief system or "religion".

-SoS

TaylorHicksRocks
12-19-2007, 12:57 PM
To think that people who follow a 'religion' are hypocritical is only natural. That's because, as humans, we are hypocritical. But just because we silly humans are all messed up doesn't mean the Message is.

But I do understand your irritation. But remember, be patient. We're only human.......

That's my problem I am human.....;) I do pray for patience every day and night....For myself of course..