Thursday, January 15, 2009

WTF of the Day

From NPR's Talk of the Nation, 1/15/09.

I'm probably going to open a can of worms with this one . . .

I tuned into the show somewhere into its first hour, and a lively discussion on religion and atheism was ensuing. Being NPR and rational as the whole organization is, there was no preaching or condemnations during the part of the show I was listening to, which is nice. That happens FAR too often when someone touches on religion. I honestly don't know if it will ever become anything less than a touchy subject.

At one point, the hosts were discussing condemnations commonly placed upon the Atheists. Christians purportedly perceive Atheists as "rampantly materialistic," which I find disturbing. Consider the following without any precepts. The vast majority of this nation is Christian. Atheists are the smallest minority belief system in the United States, and by far the most hated. Without implying that Christians are actually the rampantly materialistic types (because it's definitely not the case in many situations), isn't it a common human reaction to project one's flaws upon someone whom one doesn't like?

Just asking.

I didn't hear what some of the other common negative stereotypes/perceptions surrounding Atheists were - I was far too distracted by the materialism comment. While I think it's a little extreme that some Atheists are offended by public references to God to the point where they censor the name, I can see their point. I do agree with the viewpoint that references to an obviously Christian deity within the realm of the State are wrong. I knew it was wrong from a young age, because despite the foibles of my (rather conservative, earnest, and occasionally misguided) public school system, we did have it driven into our heads at a young age in school that there must always be a "separation of Church and State." Exactly correct. I'm not sure where some citizens get the impression that they're crusading to bring religion back into the State "the way the Founding Fathers intended."

I've also, however, had the distinct advantage of growing up in a family of very intelligent, unique, aware individuals. I often think that makes all the difference in someone. If I'd grown up in a less advantaged situation, I wouldn't be where I am today - probably not panicking about getting into grad school or not, probably not a musician, probably not even in the sciences. Who knows where I'd be.

When I was 9 years old, I was in 5th grade and out of some conversation at my table, the question of belief in God came up. It went around the table, with everyone being singled out and asked if they believed in God. I answered honestly. No, I didn't then, and though I consider myself Agnostic, I really don't even now. I was the only one at the table to make such an admission (likely the entire classroom), and the reaction from my peers was immediate and pronounced. I was promptly informed that I was going to Hell, upon which I tried to reverse my statement in order to get them to leave me alone. They kept it up nonetheless, and it persisted throughout the year. It's another story, but that year was the first year I was truly, publicly singled out as being "different" from everyone else in the class, and received an appalling amount of grief, teasing, and some degree of ostracism in addition to my religious views.

The reason I choose to bring that up in a public forum is because that actually came up during the Atheism segment of the show - it seems that many others who were not solidified in their beliefs at a young age and made that public were also condemned to Hell at a young age.

It hurt then, because I didn't know then it wasn't "alright" to believe in what I wanted to. It hurt a lot, especially when my peers decided to make a joke of everything that defined me, to manipulate my honesty with them. I'm not sure what my response was at the time. I don't think I knew how to respond to that. It helped, though, having friends who refused to participate in the teasing.

I suppose now, a little older and significantly wiser, my response is more along the lines of, "I'll burn in Hell, sure. I'll burn brightly." Better to be the one unwittingly the whipping boy than the ones doing the whipping. I doubt most of these folks, now adults, most of them probably graduated from college, working, engaged, married, maybe even with families, remember what they said.

Ahh the joys of childhood.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Children are cruel. Pure and simple. Telling someone with a different belief system that they will "burn in hell" or suffer some other enduring/eternal torture is actually a sign of their fear that their belief system may *not* be "the right one", so they revert to intimidation.