These days one comes across a lot of articles about "The War On Religion"...or "The War On Christianity".
The notion is that through the ages religions have imposed their beliefs and wills on the general populace, influencing attitudes on everything from social mores and customs to those of sexual matters, as well as social ethics.
...and also that each religion holds it's own rituals and doctrines in highest esteem---to the point of requiring their practitioners to literally engage in self-repression in order to hold true to their professed beliefs.
In recent years, however, certain groups---a.k.a.: atheists, agnostics, materialistic---have disavowed and discredited not only traditional religions but even Christianity as well as the mere belief in God itself, declaring such to be not only "unfounded superstitions", "medieval", and "purely dogmatic", but they also decry the presence of such as of being "a violation of the rights and sensitivities of" those whose belief systems do not include anything of a spiritual or religious nature.
On the surface one might figure "Okay, so be it. This is a world of many beliefs and concepts and priorities."
However, a lot of these secularistic types seem to have gone over-the-top in expressing their disapproval of "anything reeking of belief in a 'supreme being/creator'".
There are atheists who "get so offended" at even the mention of the name "God" that they fly-off-the-handle at the mere mention of the word---even a casual and/or metaphorical reference to "the Almighty"...even if uttered in a secular vein.
They're like: "Don't ever even USE that word around me!"
Recently there have been lawsuits filed against churches---for exhibiting everything from "Nativity Scenes" to statues of Jesus and front-lawn signs quoting scriptures
...and on the church's own property, no less.
...simply because it was "in full view of the general public"---hence also "invading" the visual sphere of those whose beliefs don't include "God" or "Christianity", presumably "constituting a violation of the sensibilities of" the more "worldly" of the general populace.
Now, before I continue on, let it be known that I myself am not particularly religious.
I may believe in a God in a general sense, but my life is not dominated by such entities.
MY "God", so to speak, is primarily "oldies music": single hits of the 1950s;60s;70s; and 80s---accentuated by select B-sides and chestnut non-single album tracks.
So, you can see, I'm actually a bit secular myself.
However, this is more of a "freedom-of-expression" issue more so than one about religion, Christianity, or whether-or-not one chooses to believe in a "God".
Common sense would dictate that if a certain institution is of a Christian or religious persuasion it should be expected that what they display, even to the world at large, will most likely be that of a Christian-themed or religious-themed nature.
...and if that's not the kind of subject matter one is interested in then simply either ignore it or look away ...the same way one "tunes out" someone's music or TV show if such doesn't interest them.
It's just that I think it's wrong to be telling others they "shouldn't be doing" whatever they're doing (or saying/stating) simply because it's not what you would do yourself---or that whatever the other person is saying isn't something you agree with.
This time around it's the secularists, atheists, materialists and such who are being dogmatic and stigmatizing.
They're the ones who are putting forth Inquisitional propositions and displaying attitudes of intolerance towards anyone who doesn't share their doctrines---this time around doctrines based on the carnal and physical aspects instead of the superstitious and/or spiritual ones.
But oppression is oppression, no matter who it is who's doing the oppressing or who it is being oppressed.
If this really IS a diversified culture comprising a wide range of lifestyles and belief systems, then we need to figure out a better method of co-existing than the ones we seem to be currently abiding by.
Because, to me, it looks more like obsessively "creative intolerance" than anything else.
When we all need to unconditionally be more accepting of each other.
These crybaby secularists seem, to me, to be little more than just another bunch of power-and-control junkies.
And you know what those kind are like: they just live to "one-up" others, any way they can.
Therein lies this country's TRUE "religions":
Power-and-Control Obsessiveness;
Arrogance;
Materialism;
Getting one-up on others;
Xenophobic assumptions about those who think and live differently;
Hubris---the feeling that one's "always right"/"never wrong";
Social statusism/reputationism;
Obsession with sports;
Unbridled hedonism.
The notion is that through the ages religions have imposed their beliefs and wills on the general populace, influencing attitudes on everything from social mores and customs to those of sexual matters, as well as social ethics.
...and also that each religion holds it's own rituals and doctrines in highest esteem---to the point of requiring their practitioners to literally engage in self-repression in order to hold true to their professed beliefs.
In recent years, however, certain groups---a.k.a.: atheists, agnostics, materialistic---have disavowed and discredited not only traditional religions but even Christianity as well as the mere belief in God itself, declaring such to be not only "unfounded superstitions", "medieval", and "purely dogmatic", but they also decry the presence of such as of being "a violation of the rights and sensitivities of" those whose belief systems do not include anything of a spiritual or religious nature.
On the surface one might figure "Okay, so be it. This is a world of many beliefs and concepts and priorities."
However, a lot of these secularistic types seem to have gone over-the-top in expressing their disapproval of "anything reeking of belief in a 'supreme being/creator'".
There are atheists who "get so offended" at even the mention of the name "God" that they fly-off-the-handle at the mere mention of the word---even a casual and/or metaphorical reference to "the Almighty"...even if uttered in a secular vein.
They're like: "Don't ever even USE that word around me!"
Recently there have been lawsuits filed against churches---for exhibiting everything from "Nativity Scenes" to statues of Jesus and front-lawn signs quoting scriptures
...and on the church's own property, no less.
...simply because it was "in full view of the general public"---hence also "invading" the visual sphere of those whose beliefs don't include "God" or "Christianity", presumably "constituting a violation of the sensibilities of" the more "worldly" of the general populace.
Now, before I continue on, let it be known that I myself am not particularly religious.
I may believe in a God in a general sense, but my life is not dominated by such entities.
MY "God", so to speak, is primarily "oldies music": single hits of the 1950s;60s;70s; and 80s---accentuated by select B-sides and chestnut non-single album tracks.
So, you can see, I'm actually a bit secular myself.
However, this is more of a "freedom-of-expression" issue more so than one about religion, Christianity, or whether-or-not one chooses to believe in a "God".
Common sense would dictate that if a certain institution is of a Christian or religious persuasion it should be expected that what they display, even to the world at large, will most likely be that of a Christian-themed or religious-themed nature.
...and if that's not the kind of subject matter one is interested in then simply either ignore it or look away ...the same way one "tunes out" someone's music or TV show if such doesn't interest them.
It's just that I think it's wrong to be telling others they "shouldn't be doing" whatever they're doing (or saying/stating) simply because it's not what you would do yourself---or that whatever the other person is saying isn't something you agree with.
This time around it's the secularists, atheists, materialists and such who are being dogmatic and stigmatizing.
They're the ones who are putting forth Inquisitional propositions and displaying attitudes of intolerance towards anyone who doesn't share their doctrines---this time around doctrines based on the carnal and physical aspects instead of the superstitious and/or spiritual ones.
But oppression is oppression, no matter who it is who's doing the oppressing or who it is being oppressed.
If this really IS a diversified culture comprising a wide range of lifestyles and belief systems, then we need to figure out a better method of co-existing than the ones we seem to be currently abiding by.
Because, to me, it looks more like obsessively "creative intolerance" than anything else.
When we all need to unconditionally be more accepting of each other.
These crybaby secularists seem, to me, to be little more than just another bunch of power-and-control junkies.
And you know what those kind are like: they just live to "one-up" others, any way they can.
Therein lies this country's TRUE "religions":
Power-and-Control Obsessiveness;
Arrogance;
Materialism;
Getting one-up on others;
Xenophobic assumptions about those who think and live differently;
Hubris---the feeling that one's "always right"/"never wrong";
Social statusism/reputationism;
Obsession with sports;
Unbridled hedonism.
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