Just When I Think I Might Be Normal...

Earlier tonight, I saw a post on Facebook that made me a bit upset, and I thought "Maybe I should blog about it," but then I thought, "No... if I do, someone's going to get upset with me..." and then I thought, "But wait! This falls under my Five Degrees of Weirdness, and is totally appropriate to blog about, even if it makes people mad at me!" So, here I am, lol!

The post I saw basically said, "Dear Lord, we have pushed you out of this that and the other, and now many bad things are happening. Will you please come back and bless America again?" Normally, I can let this slide. This doesn't affect me at all really... except that it does.

One of the "this that and the other" mentioned above was school. This is a big complaint from very christian (or derivative thereof) parents. They feel that God should definitely be in school; all schools, or at the very least all American public and specialized private schools. The reason I get mad when I see, hear, or read this is that I was born and raised an American, AND I am not christian.

As an American, I was taught in school that one of the main and very compelling reasons that our ancestors came here was to escape religious persecution in their home land. I was taught that our fore-fathers were very wise when they created a separation of church and state and put it as one of the basic rights granted to us in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. (Declaration Of Independence, Constitution Of The United States Of America, Bill Of Rights And Constitutional Amendments ) The reason they did this and were wise to do so, the reason this was the right and good thing to do is because our country is a conglomeration of people from other countries, all of whom have their own religious customs and beliefs. There is no one religion that encompasses every American, not even christian.

I'm not blogging to bash christians, no, I am blogging to point out one very important fact; I have the right to be Wiccan. For me, asking to take the christian god out of our schools is NOT because I am against the him, and it is NOT because I think no one should worship him; it is because I had to endure it while I was in school. Even in the '90's, when the country decided that trying to be inclusive was the hottest newest trend, there was a lot about the christian god in school, and practically no mention of any of the others. The most I can remember of other gods being mentioned was briefly as we studied the "myths" of the Greek and Roman gods.

I know we had Jewish and Vietnamese kids in school, and probably several other ethnicities that I wasn't even aware of, and not once was their religion or beliefs mentioned. Yet those poor kids were required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day. I can understand pledging to serve the country one has immigrated to, but they should NOT be required to pledge to the christian god while they do so. FYI, the original Pledge of Allegiance did not mention the christian god (or any god) at all. This was done on purpose because we are a country that is supposed to have religious freedom. God was added years later at the demands of some christians. (Don't believe me? The Pledge: A History of the Pledge of Allegiance )

Finally, I want to point out that the people who get all up in arms about taking God out of schools have it all wrong. We (those of us who believe in a different religion, or even no religion) don't want to take him out of school, we simply want him to peacefully co-exist with all the other gods (schools of belief) we believe in, you know, as we were promised in the Bill of Rights. We WANT religion in school, just as we want it in our homes. We want our kids growing up respectful and tolerant of others, and I take offense when I see people say that we (as in those of us who asked that the christian god not be so prominent in school) asked god to be taken out of school and now horrible things are happening, and what did we expect? This is tantamount to saying, "I don't care if you believe in a different god, I am right, there is only one real god, and if you do not bow down and obey him, he will punish us all!"

I'm sorry, I may not see eye to eye with the christian god, but I do know one thing, the real christian god is full of love. He loves everyone everywhere, and he does not feel the need to spite or punish anyone. He helps those who help themselves, and if things are going wrong, that is his way of saying, "WAKE UP! Something is wrong here and you need to figure out what so that we can fix it!" The thing that is wrong with America is not our petty squabbles over which god is better, it's that we keep allowing our government to take away our rights and we do not seem to fight back!

Wisconsin just voted to ban state workers union rights, for gods' sakes! 'Nuff said!