Somethng that annoyed me yesterday...

[msfledermaus]

I went down to the corner store yesterday since I was out of milk, and while the guy behind the counter was totalling me up, his girlfriend was bagging my groceries. Nice kids. The thing that annoyed me, though, was that the girl had this big button with two pictures--one of an angelic blondish Jesus and one of a cartoony red-faced goateed Satan. The heading read, "It's your choice!"

*Rant a-comin' up right here*
For those of you playing at home, I'm Pagan. Eclectic Wiccan. Basically your average urban Witch. I don't make a big deal of it, usually, it's just something I do, like art or knitting or my glitter fixation.
Yeah, it's my choice...And I chose to look beyond the cartoony devil and angelic Jesus to the religious figures early Christianity demonized when they started to conquer the Middle East and Europe...or borrowed heavily from. I know it's stupid to rail against the "one or the other-absolute good-verses-absolute-evil" that permeates the culture I live in, believe me...but sometimes I can't help it because I'm expected to make all kinds of room for a world view that won't make room for me. I suppose I could wear a similar button, but I don't feel that sort of punitive religious stuff helps anyone. Don't get me wrong, people have the right to their beliefs, and I believe that firmly. I'm just very annoyed....not even so much by the button, but the increasingly narrow world view that button represents. A world that would gleefully throw me on the bonfire along with most of the people I know and like if they had even half a chance.

So I smiled and said "Thank you" and went home with my milk and apples.

I know I've opened up a can of worms here, just a bit.
*shrug*

Tell me your thoughts on the subject. Not so much the button,which isn't really that big a deal. Just...how do you feel?

Comments

Re:

[msfledermaus.livejournal.com]

I think it's a good concept to belive in, our 'tolerance"...but we do have to know we've done horrible things in the name of our nation...often in the name of our tolerant "Mission." Our history is pretty damn awful like that, and it's awful the way people have to dig and dig to find out what relly happened. No wonder people believe the lies we're fed from birth:(

Maybe if we keep working on it, we'l someday get a lot closer to true tolerance.