Jump to content
Mental Support Community

It’s Easter but i didn’t go to church


Recommended Posts

It’s Easter Sunday, but i didn’t go to church.  I used to attend every Sunday, and even at other times during the week.  I did that for, wow, 40 years plus.  But as the Religious Right slowly insinuated themselves into my churches, and changed those churches from houses of worship to houses of hate, I gradually found myself alienated from the people in the chairs around me.  

Though i’m not alienated from God, as it turns out, or from my religion per se.  My religion was never the same entity as the hateful subculture in the churches; although both the Religious Right and the atheists are trying to convince me that it is.  When two groups who hate each other are saying the same thing, it’s a good bet that the truth is the opposite of that.

So this morning i took my coffee out onto the back porch and looked out into the yard.  It’s an early spring morning in Dixie, and looking out across my yard and over the yards of my neighbors, there’s a morning mist resting on the yellow forsythia and the dogwood blossoms and the vivid green grass.

We have bird feeders and birdhouses in our yard.  A nuthatch and a sparrow latch onto either side of a feeder, pecking their breakfasts out.  That sparrow’s eating well this morning.  My memory brings back an old gospel chorus:  
“I sing because i’m happy, i sing because i’m free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and i know He watches me.”

It’s a song about significance, about being important to God even though you’re insignificant to society.
It resonated with me when i was a teenager and a young man, insignificant and unwanted by society.
To the people on the Right, i was insignificant because i wasn’t rich or athletic.
To the people on the Left (those hypocrites who claim to be tolerant and egalitarian),
i was insignificant because i didn’t know how to dance, wasn’t sexy, didn’t know where to get weed, just generally So Uncool We Need To Avoid You.

But religion sang this song of significance to me, told me i was precious to someone.
I remembered that this morning.

So today i didn’t go to church, but i certainly had a religious holiday.
The gay-bashing Bible-Belters, and the God-bashing pseudointellectuals on the Coasts, are very shallow in their thinking.
They don't know what faith really is.

 

Easter backyard.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, TooOld4This said:

The gay-bashing Bible-Belters, and the God-bashing pseudointellectuals on the Coasts, are very shallow in their thinking.
They don't know what faith really is.

my intention isn't to offend you or anyone else, but since you called us "pseudointellectuals", i felt compelled to respond.

personally, i don't believe in any god (not one worthy of worship anyway). but if a so called god does hypothetically exist, he would deserve much more than just bashing (like a serious thrashing and trashing lol). in conclusion, god-bashers (some of them) are probably the only true intellectuals out there.

p.s., we know exactly what faith is. faith, by definition, is nothing more than unsubstantiated (logically or scientifically) beliefs, based on wishful thinking.

that said, i hope you had a lovely easter. take care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On March 28, 2016 at 10:16 AM, Klingcorn said:

Hi mts, 

The Protestant Churches that form the Bible Belt of the US are evangelical churches that have transformed themselves into more of an exclusive social club than a church. They are the Christian equivalent of Islamic literalists in that they focus on specific Bible scripture that is socially relevant to them and ignore or deny anything doctrinally relevant that might contradict or falsify their beliefs. There is no longer any real doctrine to speak of, only a social and political cohesion that uses Christianity as a loose foundation on which to structure these social and political principles. This, in essence, is the "Religious Right". Being primarily a political identity, it can't fail to be perceived as hypocritical and contradictory, and this necessarily produces a polarization or opposition in the form of atheism. 

The two groups use the same social and political platform to argue their positions, and this is what TO4T is referring to. As a consequence, the "religious right" identifies atheists as their primary enemy (and Muslims to an increasingly greater extent). 

I posted this to hopefully clarify your confusions because I'm in a position to do so; it is not my intention to start an argument on who or who isn't right. I think the important takeaway is that TO4T was able to take something beneficial away from Easter that transcended political and social hatreds. 

 

P.S. Commenting to objectively clarify a question that is personally relevant, not proselytize or influence. 

 

Thanks for the post, Klingcorn.  This was an excellent clarification of my ideas, and i endorse it 100%.

Resolute, if i had been thinking of you when i wrote "pseudointellectuals," i would have been inclined to name you.
(but i didn't, since that would have been absolutely contrary to the rules and purpose of this Forum.)

As it is, i was thinking of people in the media who bash God and faith.  No, i don't find them to be more "rational" or "free-thinking" than religious people like myself.  I have found them to be, like the Religious Right, a subculture of hate and negativity; i'll stand by that position.  You got a problem with God?  You can articulate that here; freedom of expression absolutely encompasses that.  Freedom of expression also allows me to explain my position.

 

mts, i wasn't saying that the R.R. and atheists are the same subculture; that's obviously inaccurate.

But they do both take the position that a person can't be both a rationalist and a person of faith; that's the area of congruence that i've noticed, and that's what i was rejecting in my post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, TooOld4This said:

Resolute, if i had been thinking of you when i wrote "pseudointellectuals," i would have been inclined to name you.

(but i didn't, since that would have been absolutely contrary to the rules and purpose of this Forum.)

As it is, i was thinking of people in the media who bash God and faith.  No, i don't find them to be more "rational" or "free-thinking" than religious people like myself.  I have found them to be, like the Religious Right, a subculture of hate and negativity; i'll stand by that position.  You got a problem with God?  You can articulate that here; freedom of expression absolutely encompasses that.  Freedom of expression also allows me to explain my position.

i know you weren't referring to me, but since i have a problem with "god" (the nonexistent), i thought i'd chime in.

also, i have no problem with you expressing your views.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, mts said:

I wasn't saying you were saying that, I was just wondering why atheists were in a church. Klingsor said they were created as a polar opposite, but I still don't get why they would come into a church, that seems like an unpeaceful protest.

mts, i don't think he's saying that atheists were in his church. he was talking about those religious right people, and he likened them to atheists in certain aspects (that both are extremists in some way).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎26‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 5:46 PM, TooOld4This said:

So this morning i took my coffee out onto the back porch and looked out into the yard.  It’s an early spring morning in Dixie, and looking out across my yard and over the yards of my neighbors, there’s a morning mist resting on the yellow forsythia and the dogwood blossoms and the vivid green grass.

Sounds nice. Since I have been unwell I have appreciated much more how beautiful surroundings are a good place to contemplate faith. A garden, a beach, the top of a mountain. I didn't go to church on Easter Sunday either, as I was brought up to do, but a small part of me thinks that I should, I occasionally visit when there's no service on as mts did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...