I hear whining. Lots and lots of whining if everyone is not subjected to sugary saccharine carols and hymns as they pick up a package of toilet paper or pick up a cup of coffee. I hate Christmas music. I loathe it. I loathe it because I was in band and chorus in school. You know what you start doing in October? Learning fucking new Christmas songs for your winter concert before break. For that alone I hate them with a passion. And it wasn't just concert band pieces that had to be learned once one was in high school. No. It was also the memorization of music, usually one or two pieces that you had to play, daily, while you practiced marching for a parade. I do feel terribly sorry for people who work retail and have to listen to canned carols and faux happy seasonal music. And my hatred for this isn't based on religion. It's based on the same reason I can't stand pop and country music. It gets on my fucking nerves. Plain and simple.
And if you happen upon a retailer that isn't festooned with green and red lights and fake snow and reindeer and Santas, you're probably going to be hearing from the likes of Bill 'Whiny Lil Bitch' O'Reilly or The American Family Association. They're on one hand calling the 'reason for the season' Jesus, and bitching because retailers trying to feed into that other religion of greed aren't pushing the Jesus juice on everyone. Because they say Happy Holidays. Or X-mas. If Jesus was the reason why are you worrying about stores and consumerism at all? Shouldn't you be out doing good works or praising Jesus instead of worrying about who is spending money where people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas? I don't remember the part in the bible where you are expressly forbidden to purchase from vendors that don't say Merry Christmas.
And it seems like a week doesn't go by without someone throwing a tizzy about some new advertisement that an Atheist group has raised money for and put on either the side of a bus or on a billboard. Texas seems to have said fuck it recently when some of their citizens in Forth Worth made national attention when some Christians threw a fit about some ads on a bus and banned religious and atheist advertising on their buses. Or another silly study focused on stirring the pot more about this nonsense about Christmas trees. Of course Mr. Mouthpiece for All Catholics (so he'd like to think) Bill Donohue has to have his two cents worth and pretty much tells everyone to STFU and assimilate to the Catholic hivemind that he represents.
I could give two shits less of what Mr. Donohue thinks and think he's a douchenozzle of the highest order. He's almost as classy as the fellow that prompted me to write this little rant of annoyance. Tom Sears has a bi-weekly column in the Daily Star the local paper for Oneonta, NY. He's a professor of accounting and has a dislike for Atheists. His most recent column points to this. Now I don't know what evil Atheist pissed in his cornflakes, but he's mad. So mad that he's pulling numbers out of his ass and lambasting the heathens because they opened their mouths and put up one of those offending billboards.
Because Atheists are speaking out more than we once did we are "pathetic" in his words. And anytime an Atheist speaks up it's an attempt to put down Christianity. I wonder if Mr. Sears realizes that Christianity isn't the only religion in the US, let alone the world. And some of those other religions might like a word with him. And for those Atheists that are in the closet, you're pathetic too. Pretending to be Christian so you aren't ostracized by your loved ones and friends that may have a problem with your non-theism. You probably should feel deep shame for being so pathetic. That appears to be what Mr. Sears is saying here.
"Why are atheists so afraid of Christianity that they feel they have to go out and aggressively attack it every year around this time? Why don't you instead proudly proclaim your "atheistic religion" and explain all the reasons and research that led you to your stance. Maybe you can't? Maybe your choice was made out of laziness and you didn't even give religion a chance? Are you going to give your children the right to choose? "
I'm an Atheist. I'm not afraid of any religious institution. They are equally irrelevant in my eyes. Aggressive attacks? I'm sorry, you haven't seen aggressive attacks by Atheists. It's a fucking billboard. If you don't like it, buy your own and put your own message up. There is a reason that these billboards are going up. Atheists are a minority in this country and most countries as you so smugly pointed out. Who cares about minorities, right? Stay quiet and stay silent.
Why don't "we proudly proclaim our atheistic religion"? Well, for starters, atheism isn't a religion. It's a lack of belief. So that kind of rules out us claiming something we don't believe in. That's just silly nonsense on your part Mr. Sears. And calling us a pathetic minority that dooms us to irrelevance doesn't really invite us to speak our minds at all, now does it?
The reasons for us being Atheists? Well Mr. Sears, I find religion to be a quaint little fairy tail that isn't needed by society to make it moral or productive. My family did not feel the need to indoctrinate me in such ancient goat herding mythologies. My mother is Catholic but never once forced us to go to any church, let alone spoke about it in my entire 18 years living under their roof. Nor does she bring it up now. The only time she did, she said, "You make your own choice". Because it's irrelevant to our relationship as parent and child. As for my choice being made out of laziness, I would call you a liar Mr. Sears. I have a great love for myths and legends and always have. They are stories however and explanations by people who didn't always understand natural phenomena. Just like any other story though, I can put those stories back on the shelves with other books and get on with my life without feeling unnecessary guilt and being oppressed for being myself. And as for children, I don't have any. I don't want any. Thank you for asking.
I would ask you the same thing Mr. Sears. What is your reason for aggressively attacking me for a lack of belief? Why don't you explain all your reasons for believing your "paternalistic, anti-woman, anti-gay religion" and the research that led you to that stance? Maybe you can't. Maybe your choice was made out of laziness because that's just how you were raised. Maybe you haven't given non-belief a chance. Are you going to give your children the right to chose?
"Tell you what; why don't you pick a day, any day, call it Atheist Day, and spend the day celebrating your atheism. Get yourself an atheist tree, exchange atheist gifts and have a great atheist meal. Call all the other atheists you know (won't take long) or send them a card and exchange happy atheist wishes."
You're such a clever and mature fella aren't you? I don't need an Atheist day to celebrate anything with my family and friends. I don't need to feed the consumerism that makes people grow even more debt that they have no way of paying down by passing out expensive gifts to my friends and family in hopes that they reciprocate with expensive gifts to me. Could you remind me what exactly giving expensive gifts and haranguing retailers has to do with your whole 'reason for the season'? Because I surely have no idea what this is supposed to represent. And as to having a nice meal with my family, I don't need to have a special day of the year for that. I can do that any time, but mainly we do that on Thanksgiving. You know another one of those days that Atheists need to not show their faces on because really, without a god, what do you have to be thankful for? (Pssst - it's my family dumb ass so I spend that day with them when I'm not working). And quite a few Atheists celebrate solstice with their nonsecular friends or actually go to Christmas parties that their friends and families throw. Just because we give each other a shout out doesn't mean that we're all buzz kills. We like to party like everyone else.
"Since you believe that there is no being more supreme than yourself (a rather egocentric viewpoint), you can celebrate you by staring at yourself (or small groups staring at each other) in the mirror all day. Isn't this a better idea than going around and putting other religions down? At least you are doing something more positive for yourself if you follow my strategy for you."
Talk about egocentric there Mr. Sears, since you seem to know what every Atheist 'believes'. Of course your little comment above has no basis in fact. Atheism is a lack of belief. I know for a fact that I am not some supreme being with no one higher than me. There are many far more intelligent people in this world than little old me and I'm certain that some of them are theists. I have better things to do than stroke my own ego, such as your self masturbatory article paints all Atheists with a wide brush. We don't worship anything, nor do we gaze at our own reflections in awe of our 'superiority'. That's nonsense and I really don't see how anything you can point to could redeem your sad little screed at this point. You've made yourself abundantly clear that you have made up your mind that all Atheists are Christian bashing, egotistical shit stirrers.
"We Christians are on the Right Side of this issue. Atheists have no real beliefs; they just want to tear down one more longstanding tradition and belief. How can they claim that a baby in a manger, a cross, a Christmas tree or some innocent Christmas songs cause them untold suffering and still keep a straight face? And then they tell the rest of us to be more sensitive to their feelings. Wrong, atheists; you are the ones who need the sensitivity training sessions. Your claims of hurt and pain are bordering on the side of ridiculousness."
I fail to see where anyone who put up the billboard that sent you into this tizzy said anything about their untold suffering caused by Christmas. I've never in my entire life heard an Atheist make this claim. If you actually believe that, you are a delusional sort of fellow. I have a mild annoyance for the forced 'cheer' at this time of year and I hate the fucking music and the 'buy buy buy!' mania that revs up the week of Thanksgiving. If I have a problem with any part of it, it is that fundamentalist Christians get their panties in a bunch and nearly go into apoplexy if someone doesn't return their 'Merry Christmas'. If I experience any hurt, it's due to the sheer number of facepalms that I put myself through whenever another trite article like this is published.
"Even though I do push back hard against you atheists, I still hope you will rethink your position and change before it's too late. You are making the biggest mistake of your lives by not at least giving religion a serious try. In the meantime I wish you a Merry Christmas and I will be praying for you."
You're not pushing hard. You're being a whiny twat. Your article was full of factual errors and I have nothing to rethink. My opinion on my non-belief would not be swayed by a your sad 'argument' because you didn't put anything forth but whining. Should I call the waaaaaaaahmbulance now or later? I'm making a mistake by not giving religion a try? You really do know nothing about Atheists do you? Most Atheists are former theists. They are no longer theists because they learned more about their holy books and teachings and compared them with what really happens in real life and decided that not basing their life on a silly book seemed like a better idea. And by the way, you're praying for me? Keep whispering to your imaginary friend all you want, it honestly doesn't hurt me either way. But don't try to silence those pesky Atheists for the fact that they speak up. We won't be forced back into the closet any more. And in parting, you can fuck yourself with a rake, sideways. And not because you're Christian, because you sir are an ignorant fucktard.
