Before I start this entry, I need to write a disclaimer. I don’t dislike people on the basis of their Christianity or whatever religion for that matter. Just because I grew up Catholic and grew apart from that doesn’t mean that I automatically hate people who haven’t “moved on” yet. I don’t even know if I’ve made progress by accepting no religion. I think my life has gone downhill. But I have more realistic expectations of everything and I don’t look to the future because it’s not guaranteed.
Now I’m going to give you a sample from my journal. I would not divulge my deepest writings. I will only share a conversation that I heard today.
Some guy next to me is talking about how more boys are diagnosed with ADD or ADHD than girls. And it’s natural, “since they’re boys.” They want to get up and run around, not sit still. And we are drugging them to be docile. And people wonder where all the men are.
Now he is talking about a man to whom “God” spoke. This man was aggressive and then he turned Christian and wrote a lot and then “God” spoke to him and told him that if he took this new job, a part of him would die or some shit.
I have to stop here to point out that the story about the man to whom God spoke probably had a point, but I couldn’t write and listen fast enough, so I just dismissed it.
Now they are talking about DRHS and running into glass doors and emasculation. I will never check this asshole out. If he tries to talk to me, maybe I will give him the finger. His friend is a big guy, but he appears cheerful and friendly.
This conversation interests me because the prick, the thin guy, is taking the lead, and the other is just appeasing him. The prick plays guitar, performs. Normally, you would get that the more athletic one is the prick, narrow-minded. This makes me appreciate the situation. The prick says he wants to tour, to give back to the city, to breathe life into it, to sell CDs. He doesn’t want to come back to this campus ever. He can’t appreciate things. He thinks atheism comes from academia. He thinks a practical life encourages “God” and religion. I almost want to jump into the conversation.
He thinks people need to get into the world. He thinks that giving up belief in God is giving up belief in the external world. And he believes in creationism and can’t do well in science courses. He does not believe the earth is 4.6 billion years old. This is gold for me. The prick doesn’t like the people, how they treat each other. “This campus…is riddled with sin.”
He claims to be well-studied and thankful and great at arguing for creationism. He argued with PhDs and philosophy majors and wants to organize some sort of a debate. He does not agree with the Christian “presuppositional” apologetics.
A girl has joined. Alicia. She brought in the denial of the existence of evil. She likes Jesus. So does the prick.
I think Christianity is so often anti-feminist and wrong. These people are good examples of this occurrence. God has developed masculinity in the prick.
I could do all the work here. I guess I really should, since I will have readers who won’t understand why I refer to him as a prick.
The reason I started eavesdropping so intently is that I heard something about masculinity. The feminist in me automatically perked up. What he’s saying is bullshit. Studies show that kids don’t want to run around. They want to watch TV! They want to surf the web! They’re lazy-ass motherfuckers. And their problems spawn from overexposure to technology and this depersonalization of communication. They can’t focus because they don’t read, and they don’t read because they really can’t read. It’s not boys versus girls, active versus docile. And trust me, calm men do not make emasculated people.
As for the guy to whom God spoke, the reason I dismissed it is because anything like that sounds like bullshit to me. As do miracles.
The reason I started talking about checking him out is because he began to brag about women checking him out. I suppose that I had better be careful of who I check out. I normally am, though. They generally have bikes. Glasses.
It was mind-blowing listening to him ramble on about how academia makes people think, and that thinking eliminates God. That is legitimately why he hates academia. He claims, however that it is impossible to live a practical life without God and that atheism is fine in theory, but when you get to living life, you need God. I think that this is a crock of bull because I feel that I could go through life without God just fine. I did think later that people like Valentino Achak Deng probably need God in their lives. But if anything, I think that surviving an ordeal such as the Sudanese Civil War would cause me to lose all faith, despite my survival.
I think that Christianity in this intensity makes people forget about all of the atrocities being committed in the world every day. They forget that we use other countries and other people as a means to our ends instead of as people. They can wear sweatshop-manufactured clothes and not feel the least bit guilty. They can go on eating meat without thinking about it. And they can fence their minority neighbours out so that it’s all white landowning patriarchy in the suburbs and make guitar music and sell it in a city they hate. This campus is riddled with sex, but I don’t think that’s any kind of sin. I’m sorry, but I don’t think petty things like premarital sex and drinking and doing drugs on this tiny campus can even be measured against some of the legitimately terrible sins being committed all over the world right now. I agree in that I don’t like how people treat each other, but I have to say that at least I try. At the very least, I don’t judge people by their un-Christian-ness. How sinful they are.
Christianity is a patriarchy that entangles itself slyly with government and culture. I am not demanding a matriarchy. I think that could be just as bad. I am demanding an egalitarian society.
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INDIEchouette 
I guess this means you condone the mass murder of millions of helpless little babies through genocide often referred to as abortion. BURN IN HELL
Comment by Erika 19 April, 2009 @ 322 pmActually, I’ve said nothing about abortion here. You’re making assumptions. Like Inga Muscio, I am certainly Pro-Choice, but supposing I became pregnant, I would probably not have the heart to abort, despite the implications that would have for my life. If you knew anything about me, you’d know that I’m vegan, so I don’t like to harm sentient beings, or even beings that are thought to be sentient (such as fetuses).
You seem pretty uneducated on this topic as a whole. Since you’re coming into the fighting ring pretty unprepared, I’d recommend reading Judith Jarvis Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion” and becoming intimately acquainted with the other side before attacking it. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, that sort of thing. She even grants you that a fetus is a full human being! I think you’ll find her argument pretty flawless. But if you want something more your taste, I would douse that with Marquis’ argument, which Thomson could even accept consistently. You can find Thomson’s in the link below.
http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/Phil160,Fall02/thomson.htm
I would also recommend, Erika, that you read “Cunt” by Inga Muscio. Don’t worry; it doesn’t attack religion. For your case, I’d even recommend that you skip over the parts on abortion so that you can keep the author’s original intention in mind without getting sidetracked by abortion. I think you just need a good bath in feminist literature. You’re a woman, someone I could potentially respect. Feminism can only help you. And the best part is that you can still be Christian and feminist!
Also, as for the “BURN IN HELL” part, there is no Hell. If you think there is one, fair enough, but do you think it’s really fair to send people to a place where they will burn and suffer without any opportunity to reform? Why not give me something more like “BURN IN PURGATORY”? You’re not even giving me a chance here. I think Hell would encourage people to be the same because there would be no point to change one’s ways, since there would be no hope of getting out. I think that’s alarmingly similar to life here, actually.
Anyway, I appreciate your input. Have a good one.
Comment by indiechouette 19 April, 2009 @ 410 pmI forgot to mention that Pro-Choice does not mean Pro-Abortion. I’m so sorry for excluding that.
Have a lovely day.
Comment by indiechouette 19 April, 2009 @ 411 pmI forgot to include that while abortion is a pressing matter on the home front, you need to think about a few other things. For one, we’ve got overpopulation and exponential population growth, which will ultimately result in a dieback, where something terrible will happen in the environment, and a whole lot of people will die.
For another, there are more pressing matters around the world than abortion. Look at the situation in Darfur, look at the very recent Sudanese Civil War, and tell me that’s not a pressing matter. I recommend you read the novel “What is the What?” by Dave Eggers if you want to learn more about this. The protagonist is a Christian throughout the book. And the best part is it’s an autobiography dictated to Eggers and then written in novel form! You can learn more about it at the link below.
http://www.valentinoachakdeng.org/
I still hope you have a dandy day.
Comment by indiechouette 19 April, 2009 @ 435 pm“What he’s saying is bullshit. Studies show that kids don’t want to run around. They want to watch TV! They want to surf the web! They’re lazy-ass motherfuckers. And their problems spawn from overexposure to technology and this depersonalization of communication. They can’t focus because they don’t read, and they don’t read because they really can’t read. It’s not boys versus girls, active versus docile. And trust me, calm men do not make emasculated people.” Amen.
I can sort of see a grain of truth in what the boy had to say. Sort of. I do think in order to live a practical life, it helps if you have someone or something to believe in. A purpose to how you live? Still, religious or not, there are many who do not see a problem with patriarchy. I know a guy, and a girl, who will argue that men are physically and intellectually superior to women and it is not a problem if preference is given to them, but the problem I see is when females are given less of a chance because there is too much risk and the male is just more likely to be successful at the said task. The girl, however, then said that, in general for her, gender inequality is not a big focus because there are bigger problems, like genocides…
Comment by Ke 19 April, 2009 @ 504 pm