*grrr*

[emmagrant01]

Okay, I'm not religious, and most people who know me are aware of that fact, even most of my extended family. So it pisses me off on many levels to get something like this from one of them:


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Think carefully about what you will be reading.


Mary had a little lamb,

His fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went,

The Lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school each day,

T'wasn't even in the rule.

It made the children laugh and play,

To have a Lamb at school.

And then the rules all changed one day,

Illegal it became;

To bring the Lamb of God to school,

Or even speak His Name.! ;

Every day got worse and worse,

And days turned into years.

Instead of hearing children laugh,

We heard gun shots and tears.

What must we do to stop the crime,

That's in our schools today?

Let's let the Lamb come back to school,

And teach our kids to pray!

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It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God. Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a mess about having "In God We Trust" on our money and having God in the Pledge of Allegiance. Why don't we just tell the 14% to shut up and sit down????

If you agree, pass this on, if not delete...


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Well... shit, I have now been effectively silenced, haven't I? What can I say to this? Just because the vast majority of Americans believe something that I don't, I should just sit down and shut up when it's being crammed down my throat? I don't mock religious people, and I don't wear my athiesm on my sleeve. It's nobody's business but mine what I believe.

So what should I do here? I'm obviously expected to just roll my eyes and delete the thing. I don't like being told that my beliefs are wrong and I should just conform or keep my mouth shut.

Hmmm. Well, I guess I've already done more than that, haven't I?

Comments

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I know, these things irritate the hell out of me -- and all the more so because I *am* a Christian who believes in God and prayer -- and who wants government to stay the hell out of my religion, which is why I firmly oppose organized prayer in school.

But a ditty like this is problematic on so many levels. It makes the erroneous assumption that if kids were led in an organized school prayer, then school shootings wouldn't happen. It becomes a cheap, pietistic way to ignore the real problems of violence in our society (and easy access to hand guns due to lack of gun control laws) by pointing at the "straw man" of public prayer in schools.

Quite aside from its blatant disregard of the importance of freedom of religion in American society and its lack of respect for other religious viewpoints, it's also a pathetic, narrow-minded, provincial view of Christianity. Jesus actually argued *against* public prayer, because it runs the risk of becoming a cheap form of piety. (Matthew 6:1 -- "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." Also v.5-6)

Religion by coercion is evil. Period. Likewise, the American government is morally and authoritatively bankrupt if we tell dissenting voices to "shut up and sit down." This ditty is un-American and un-Christian (and anti-public schools). And you can quote me on that.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know I live in a little Ivory Tower world, but most (non-relative) people I know who are religious in one way or another would agree completely with what you've written. What really frightens me about getting things like this in the mail is that it reminds me that there are many, many people out there who *do* agree with this sentiment. It scares the shit out of me, to be honest.

So I sent a reply-all back to my uncle, basically saying that "Agree or shut up" is a frighteningly un-American sentiment. I wish I'd read your reply here first, because then I couldn've talked about it being illogical and un-Christian as well...

Thanks, Rita!

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I've gotten things like that from dear friends, too. Sometimes I screw up the courage to write back and say, "You know, I don't totally agree with this." What surprises me is that often they agree with me! They may have liked some little sentiment in it, or just passed it on, but ultimately didn't agree with the larger issues raised in the ditty. It's weird to me that someone would pass something like that on, but on the other hand it indicates that some folks are open to more thoughtful reflections on those implications.

Ack. Did that make ANY sense at all?

Maybe we ought to make some sentimental emails about freedom of religion, free speech, separation of church and state, etc, etc, and spam all our friends and relatives with them -- to counterbalance the pietistic pap?