Please join me in greeting our newest member, Diary of a Teenage Atheist. The Introduction below was provided by the blogs author.
It's a fact that atheists face more discrimination than people of any other religion. If it's tough enough being an atheist in America, it's even more insane being an atheist in my country, where 94% of the population is Christian. Despite only being 17 and totally new to this thing, I've already been facing a lot of difficulties and discrimination from my own Catholic family and from other people due to my beliefs. I started my blog to document the various challenges and minor annoyances I face as an atheist in a predominantly Christian country.
Here's a link to a short anecdote about a conversation I had with my mother, and here's an excerpt:
"Do your friends know that you're an atheist?" Mother asked on a ride home from the mall. (Answer: Only three. Not sure if I want to tell the rest.) "Because atheists can't celebrate Christmas, you know. These are things you have to think about. Because you know what Christmas celebrates."
No shit, Sherlock. I knew what she was up to, because if there's any adjective that defines my mother (aside from the obvious "elitist" and "self-absorbed"), it's "manipulative." She knew how much I loved Christmas. And I do! It's my favorite time of the year next to my birthday, because I love the cold weather and the lights and the gifts and the music. Basically, everything tangible about Christmas; I could care less about what it celebrates. Of course, Mother Dearest would call me out for being shallow if I told her about how I really felt about Christmas, so I just rolled my eyes and kept to myself.
On another note, Diary of a Teenaged Atheist is a Wordpress blog. The author is having trouble displaying the Blogroll graphic. If there are any experienced Wordpress bloggers out there, please lend a hand.
Thanks for the add!
ReplyDeleteOh, the pagans celebrated the wintersolstice, the victorians celebrated a very secular version of xmas sprinkled with some religious observances so celebrate away. Pretty lame logic - crappy guilt trip from your mother though, just realize how shallow her arguments are and that the extension of her argument - Pascal's wager - is the poorest of all reasons to "believe".
ReplyDeleteIf you want you can show your mom the TRUTH about "Christmas"... I am an atheist, my fiance is a Hindu but neither of us will force religion on our kids. We already agree to not force them into holidays. But just like you we enjoyed them on a simple level. So during the winter we will celebrate the end of the Year or the end of the Harvest which is more traditional and NOT religious.
ReplyDeleteIn order to help you out you should look up Natalis Solis Invicti or go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
or here http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/holidaysfestivals/a/solsticeceleb_4.htm
which might help.
We also will not in any way celebrate Easter... but Halloween (my fav. holiday) will be... Thanksgiving is about family and there isn't much else we care about. Good luck!
I should point out that as an atheist i still sang a churches if they performed classic (if not classical) sacred music, especially midnight mass for the whiskypalians. I love sacred art from the Byzantine era through early 20th century. The stained glass, architecture, etc. I just don't buy into it beyond myth.
ReplyDeleteI love xmas trees (they're VERY non-xian) and Santa/FatherXmas and even angels but as for the worship, not so much.
Enjoy it all. Most of the ancient art we praise was created for long dead religions but we still can enjoy the aesthetic value as well as celebrate the very human concept of honoring seasons with festivities and art.
I noticed that she is having problems to display the Atheist blogroll on her blog.
ReplyDeleteIs this down below tried?
I think that there is a way of displaying the blogroll on a wordpress.com blog.
Login to blogrolling.com for the atheist blogroll, click on the "Get Code", scroll down to the part that says OPML, copy and give out the code there to the ones that have wordpress.com blogs.
They should:
1) Go to their Dashboard admin page.
2) Click on Manage -> Categories -> Add Category. In the field for the Category name write: Atheist blogroll. Click on Add Category-button.
3) Click on the blogroll tab, click on the Import Links-tab and there they can put in the code you picked up for the Atheist blogroll, in the field for the URL (Specify an OPML URL:..... and then choose the category for it that they just named Atheist Blogroll.
That should work or is it any other problem?
Welcome!
ReplyDeleteCaptain Lifecruiser: I'm lost. Still have no idea how to put the blogroll on my Wordpress. (What am I supposed to do when I get to Blogrolling.com? I can't find the blogroll.)
ReplyDelete