I am doing a bad thing most days on my way to work...
It's not entirely on purpose... Like yesterday's blog it's a spontaneous reaction to stimulus, but I have to say I am making a big show of it, and in fact broadcasting it at somebody... and I'm hoping to get a reaction...
To paint you a lovely picture, outside my local tube station there are a set of evangelical religious types.. I'm not 100% sure of their particular brand of mystical bunk, but they are of the super conservative ilk who feel the need to give out pamphlets warning you about how whatever you happen to be doing, that isn't something that they do, is going to send you to hell...
Today was a good one, it loudly proclaimed to tell 'The Evil Truth behind Halloween'.
Now I would have thought they'd like Halloween, because if there's one thing that religion benefits from, it's a willingness to believe in spirits and ghosts and the undead and all sorts of other things that make a good story, but have no bearing on the actual, honest to goodness world of realness and matter that I (or anyone) lives in...
So i did what I always do. I stopped. and I laughed. I laughed heartily, standing right in front of them. Then I wiped my eyes and moved on.
Do I feel bad about laughing in the faces of these, probably well-intentioned, but overly pious and misguided people?
No. Not a bit. Here's why.
A) Killjoys having a go at things like that might make Gullible parents stop their kids from joining in on something that is 100% harmless fun... I like Halloween, they show Horror movies.. and even if they don't, I'll be getting my Night of the Living Dead box set and watching 'the canonical 3' as I do every year (even without my Zombuddy). So leave HAlloween alone.
2) They are actually funny. They are a couple and they cut such a forlorn figure. And it's their job.. I can't help but laugh.. and then the look I get in return just cracks me up even more. It's like a cartoon where they literally look daggers, only his would be composed of hellfire.
D) They are not just expressing their beliefs, they are trying to change the beliefs of others. They are advertising. They are putting their ideas about religion into the public realm and making them a part of the public discourse, but with ideas as flimsy as theirs (Witches are REAL and Halloween helps them in some way) the only correct response is laughter. Not Argument, debate or even mockery. It's funny enough as it is.
I used to be worse than this. I have a strong feeling about Religion since the fundamentalist upbringing of one of my schoolfriends led to his eventual suicide in his early twenties. I used to go out of my way to get in discussions with religious people, and like most atheists of that type I would read more religious texts than all but the most committed believers. I would know everything required to Judo throw them with the weight of their own convictions. I could quote chapter and verse of each and every contradiction and morally reprehensible statement and I would be disappointed when my reason didn't alter their opinion one iota...
Now I don't worry. If you aren't using your belief to get me to change mine, I'll just smile, nod and remember not to ask you any science questions.
If you are standing outside a train station with a sign proclaiming that a fairly innocent holiday, that stems from one of your OWN SAINTS Festivals is evil.. well I'll keep laughing in your face until, hopefully, you lose it and chase me down the street... and I'll laugh all the way.
And then I'll stop, and face you, and continue laughing.. and then what will you do?
It's not entirely on purpose... Like yesterday's blog it's a spontaneous reaction to stimulus, but I have to say I am making a big show of it, and in fact broadcasting it at somebody... and I'm hoping to get a reaction...
To paint you a lovely picture, outside my local tube station there are a set of evangelical religious types.. I'm not 100% sure of their particular brand of mystical bunk, but they are of the super conservative ilk who feel the need to give out pamphlets warning you about how whatever you happen to be doing, that isn't something that they do, is going to send you to hell...
Today was a good one, it loudly proclaimed to tell 'The Evil Truth behind Halloween'.
Now I would have thought they'd like Halloween, because if there's one thing that religion benefits from, it's a willingness to believe in spirits and ghosts and the undead and all sorts of other things that make a good story, but have no bearing on the actual, honest to goodness world of realness and matter that I (or anyone) lives in...
So i did what I always do. I stopped. and I laughed. I laughed heartily, standing right in front of them. Then I wiped my eyes and moved on.
Do I feel bad about laughing in the faces of these, probably well-intentioned, but overly pious and misguided people?
No. Not a bit. Here's why.
A) Killjoys having a go at things like that might make Gullible parents stop their kids from joining in on something that is 100% harmless fun... I like Halloween, they show Horror movies.. and even if they don't, I'll be getting my Night of the Living Dead box set and watching 'the canonical 3' as I do every year (even without my Zombuddy). So leave HAlloween alone.
2) They are actually funny. They are a couple and they cut such a forlorn figure. And it's their job.. I can't help but laugh.. and then the look I get in return just cracks me up even more. It's like a cartoon where they literally look daggers, only his would be composed of hellfire.
D) They are not just expressing their beliefs, they are trying to change the beliefs of others. They are advertising. They are putting their ideas about religion into the public realm and making them a part of the public discourse, but with ideas as flimsy as theirs (Witches are REAL and Halloween helps them in some way) the only correct response is laughter. Not Argument, debate or even mockery. It's funny enough as it is.
I used to be worse than this. I have a strong feeling about Religion since the fundamentalist upbringing of one of my schoolfriends led to his eventual suicide in his early twenties. I used to go out of my way to get in discussions with religious people, and like most atheists of that type I would read more religious texts than all but the most committed believers. I would know everything required to Judo throw them with the weight of their own convictions. I could quote chapter and verse of each and every contradiction and morally reprehensible statement and I would be disappointed when my reason didn't alter their opinion one iota...
Now I don't worry. If you aren't using your belief to get me to change mine, I'll just smile, nod and remember not to ask you any science questions.
If you are standing outside a train station with a sign proclaiming that a fairly innocent holiday, that stems from one of your OWN SAINTS Festivals is evil.. well I'll keep laughing in your face until, hopefully, you lose it and chase me down the street... and I'll laugh all the way.
And then I'll stop, and face you, and continue laughing.. and then what will you do?
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