Finished the pjooey Ethan Frome

Finished the pjooey Ethan Frome questions at last. I really don't enjoy dissecting books like that. It takes a lot away from my enjoyment of the book, y'know. Tone and symbolism and everything are great stuff and add to the overall quality of the book, but I can appreciate them without having to answer questions about them. So a great big thumbs down to that. However, Lodey hinted that these one hundred and thirty-one questions would count as the test, so on the bright side we don't have to take an Ethan Frome test. ^^

Talking of books, Friday night I stayed up till nearly one o'clock reading The Third Witch, which was good stuff. ^__^ Shakespeare [and by Shakespeare of course I mean de Vere] is so much fun. Especially when rewritten from a womyn's point of view. =)

And still on the track of books [and Shakespeare, to an extent], I would like to read Reviving Ophelia. Shirley had a copy of it with her last night, and I was flipping through it and was q. intrigued.

Last night [before I went to Krysta's] I was online and Will Bruce IMed me. With little preamble ["hi kate." "Howdy."] he said:

will IS happy 01 (5:17:18 PM): so, do you hate christians?

I was completely baffled.

a l m e DASTAR (5:17:24 PM): o.O No.

will IS happy 01 (5:17:45 PM): oh.
will IS happy 01 (5:17:51 PM): i didn't get that thang on ur profile

Ahh, now I understand. In my profile is a quote I found on religioustolerance.org whilst researching abortion for ACLU. [We're making a bulletin board, and one quarter is going to be dedicated to controversial topics, and I volunteered to get some stuff on abortion.]

"In 2001, about 76% of North Americans considered themselves Christian (A drop of almost 10 percentage points since 1991). An examination of biblical passages on the status of a fetus and abortion may thus be of interest to most of the public."

I put it in my profile merely 'cause I found it interesting. I didn't realise the percentage was so high and I was intrigued that the number has dropped so much in the past ten years. I explained this to young William and then:

will IS happy 01 (5:24:47 PM): what is your religious preference anyway
a l m e DASTAR (5:24:54 PM): None.
will IS happy 01 (5:25:03 PM): yea?
will IS happy 01 (5:25:04 PM): why's that
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:09 PM): Well.
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:29 PM): Because none of the current religions align with my system of beliefs.
a l m e DASTAR (5:25:44 PM): Or if one does, I haven't found it.
will IS happy 01 (5:25:54 PM): what's your system of beliefs
will IS happy 01 (5:25:59 PM): at least the strongest ones
a l m e DASTAR (5:26:41 PM): The biggest thing is that I don't believe in a god or divine figure. This pretty much cancels out the majority of religions I know.
will IS happy 01 (5:26:57 PM): see, i could def. never say that
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:11 PM): I know. =) That's why you're a Christian and I'm not.
will IS happy 01 (5:27:25 PM): well, atheism is belief in no god
will IS happy 01 (5:27:34 PM): haha
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:35 PM): Yes, but I don't consider it a religion.
will IS happy 01 (5:27:43 PM): good pt
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:50 PM): So I am atheist, yes.
a l m e DASTAR (5:27:59 PM): But there's no church of atheism or anything. :P
will IS happy 01 (5:28:07 PM): haha yes there is
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:10 PM): Is there reallY?
will IS happy 01 (5:28:12 PM): we call it the trocadero
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:14 PM): xD
will IS happy 01 (5:28:17 PM): i gotta go
a l m e DASTAR (5:28:19 PM): Ciao.
will IS happy 01 (5:28:22 PM): lata
will IS happy 01 (5:28:32 PM): :P
will IS happy 01 signed off at 5:28:39 PM.

I hate having to defend or explain myself. Especially regarding atheism. It's like, Why do you not believe in the tooth fairy? Why do you not believe in Santa Claus? Yeah, well, that's why I don't believe in a god.

Immediately after he signed off, I got off and went to wait in the living room for Krysta to pick me up, I was thinking about what he said [I tend to dwell on things] and this popped into my head:

I look to science for explanations;
I look inward for ethics;
I look to my family for unconditional love;
I look to my friends for a sense of belonging;
I do not fear death.

What else does religion have to offer?

I thought that was mighty clever of me and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. ^^; I don't know why you have religion, but I can't think of anything else that I need that a religion could provide for me.

And then Krysta arrived and off I went. ^^ It was really, really fun last night. We ate fondue and nutella and made s'mores and did karaoke and jumped on the trampoline. I haven't been on a trampoline in ages, but oh, are those things fun. And really liberating and tension-breaking too. First it was just Shirley, Krysta, and I, and I don't know Shirley that well, and when I first got there Shirley and Krysta were singing Christian songs out of some book of Christian songs and I felt a bit left out because a] I can't sing for shizznit and b] if I could sing, I most likely wouldn't be singing worship songs. So I flipped through Shirley's copy of Reviving Ophelia, but then we went out on the trampoline and within, I dunno, thirty seconds we were all laughing hysterically. About things that, upon reflection, were probably not even that funny. But that's the magic of trampolines. :D

So that was fun and karaoke was fun [even though, as I said, I can't sing] and s'mores are always fun. We were outside toasting marshmallows with real sticks over a real fire when Krysta turned to me and the topic of my atheism came up again. [By this time a girl named Ruth from Krysta's church had arrived, so it was me, Krysta, Ruth, and Shirley, and Shirley and Krysta were singing songs again and Ruth was correcting them when they got the lyrics wrong, so that's probably how the subject came up.]

K: You don't go to church, do you?
M: Nope.
K: Are you anti-church?
M: No. xP I just don't go.
K: [half-joking] Are you an atheist?
M: Actually, I am. :P
K: Why?
M: Well, why not?
K: Well, I believe in God 'cause I'll go to hell if I don't. [That's basically what she said; I think I might have gotten the wording wrong.]
M: See, that's the thing. I don't believe in god, so I don't believe in hell either. :P

And then Krysta appealed to Shirley for help.

M: *sarcastic* What, so she can convert me? ;P
K: No, I just don't know what to say . . . Shirley's good at preaching.

And then Krysta and Shirley started talking about one time when S. told K. to look at people through the eyes of Jesus and I went over to get another marshmallow and the topic didn't come up again.

I dunno. Religion and friends aren't a very good mix unless you have the same religion as your friends, in which case it provides j'all with a common bond.

Oh! Today is Sunday, isn't it? Well, let's see.

Colin [Look, I'm going in alphabetical order! A(llison), B(rinser), C(olin)!]
I love talking to Colin because he always makes me feel like I'm the cleverest, specialest person around. He is chicken soup for my self-esteem. <3 And you might think, with all my bragging about grades and such that I have a very healthy self esteem, but if you think that you would be wrong. I have feelings of self-doubt and sometimes even self-hatred just as much as the next person. :P So, anyway, back to Colin. He is funny and sexy and smart and you just want to cuddle him because sometimes he gets into these moods like Malcolm had in that Malcolm in the Middle episode where they go to the zoo and Malcolm and Dewey get trapped in the tiger pen. Also, we have many things in common [we both live in Pennsylvania, we both enjoy His Dark Materials, &c.] and that's always fun. So, yeah, that's Colin. He's a sweetie and a half.

And since we're discussing atheism today [well, mostly me, but then, isn't that the way of things? I'm the one who does all the talking around here. ;D], I'll share a little story about how I found atheism. I'm not sure when it was. I guess sometime between sixth and eighth grade. Well, I think I need to start earlier. First of all, my parents did not raise me religious. I went to church on Christmas and Easter, but that was mostly for my grandmother's and aunts' and uncle's sake. As I got older, I was forced to attend church less and less. Then, around seventh grade, I think, I got really interested in wicca [to my shame, fluffbunny wicca] and started researching the different branches online. I liked wicca's feminism and the basic rede ["An ye harm none, do what ye will"], but I could never committed 'cause I couldn't make myself believe in a god [or even a goddess]. And I think at that point I realized that I was, like it or no, atheist.

Almeda | 10.11.02 17:21 | TrackBack