i hate religion
Trigger warning for people who can't handle atheism. Just scroll past.
I stupidly clicked on an obituary video on a forum i read, and the first 7 minutes was really sweet, a mom telling the story of her daughter who ran off to become a hobo as a kid, hopped trains, traveled around, had a bunch of shitty boyfriends, got addicted to heroin, went to rehab a bunch of times, then eventually died from a fentanyl overdose, right there in mom's house. And i was like, yeah, man, another one bites the dust thanks to this epidemic of shitty drugs in rural and suburban USA/Canada. I mean, she was a privileged white girl, but they still deserve the same empathy as the black and indigenous folks who've been dealing with similar drug epidemics in their communities for decades.
And then, SMASH KRANGGGGG just when you thought it was a sentimental video about someone celebrating their daughter as a free spirit while also making a point about how utterly shitty opioids are, here comes the Jesus.
Fuck fucking Jesus.
Seriously. Fuck that guy.
Although, to be fair, i suspect if he was alive today he'd be pissed at how many people use his name to push their shitty cults.
Like, i get it. Some people are religious. And religious people decide to lean on their faith when someone close to them dies, because the whole point of religion is to provide spiritual comfort when the real world serves you up a plate of crap that you never wanted to eat.
But. To then spin your daughter's fucking death as a calling to God, in fact as a moral lesson to anyone watching the video, to imply that only Jesus Himself can save you from becoming a drug addict, yo. FUCK OFF.
That shit makes me so angry.
I am young enough that all of my friends to date have not yet died of old age or disease, but i have lost quite a few friends, and they all died to suicide or overdose. And more than one of them came from a very religious background. And it's exactly that background that led them to the kind of lifestyles that ended up having them die. Trying to escape that oppression destroys a lot of people. Some turn to drugs, and end up dying as a result. Others realize their identity isn't compatible with their family's ultra-conservative expectations and kill themselves because they can't handle the internal conflict, drilled into them from years of religious conditioning.
Religion fucking kills.
I do understand that for some people it's a comfort. I get it.
But it's really gross to capitalize on a family member's death to shill your church. Fuck all of the way off, Mrs Pastor's Wife.
Yo, when my best friend killed herself, the woman who had run away from her family's expectations to go to school on an athlete's scholarship at a US university, made her way to Toronto, lived in a women's shelter, made a bunch of friends in the city, came out as lesbian... and her pastor parents took her away to outback fucking middle of nowhere Canada for the funeral? When the bi woman who volunteered at an HIV support center, the only person i ever wore a dress for in my life - as a bridesmaid for her wedding - killed herself and her parents pulled out the Jesus at her funeral? No. Fuck all of the way off. Fuck all of you fucking Christian motherfuckers, i hate you.
Actually, no, i don't hate you.
I had a Christian upbringing too, not an especially pious one because my mother absolutely put the kibosh on that due to her resenting her Catholic guilt childhood, but you know, we still knew Easter was a thing, and Christmas, and i even went to church and Sunday school a handful of times. I read the Bible, or at least the children's illustrated version. I know the stories. I know the teachings. I don't believe in God, but i do believe Jesus was a guy who preached some good stuff, and brought hope to some oppressed people living under the jackboot of Roman rule. I mean. He's a historically interesting guy.
But that's a sidetrack. Living in the countries i lived in growing up, Christianity was the dominant religion. However all of them are equally shit. In my years as an adult i have met Muslim guys who were incredibly conflicted about their same-sex attraction, who also ended up turning to drugs/alcohol to deal with it. In China i met people from traditional Buddhist or Daoist or just general traditional Chinese folk religion backgrounds whose parents could not accept that the kids had same-sex attraction, whether gay or bi. This shit is universal. And the common element is utterly fucked up religions.
So excuse the fuck out of me when i roll my eyes at the latest right-wing conspiratorial wank about how drag queens are "grooming" children or how acknowledging trans people is going to result in a sudden torrent of men abusing women in the women's toilets. Fuck all of the way off. Get back to me when a bunch of your friends overdosed or killed themselves because their gay parents wouldn't let them be straight, or because their hobo parents wouldn't let them go to college and get an office job.
I know i've gone completely off topic. I'm rambling. I'm drunk. Am i a drunk because of a religious upbringing? No, i am a drunk because it is what it fucking is, and i make no apologies or excuses about it. I don't like that i have to work to survive. I don't like that my body is covered in whatever lesions that i still don't know what they are. And i kinda enjoy getting blitzed, although i know i will regret it and hate myself tomorrow. And you know what i really don't want? Some goddamn preacher telling me that if i found God, i would totally not have a problem any more.
You know how many drunks and drug addicts rant about how in touch they are with God?
Yeah. Shut the fuck up.
Jesus Christ.
I stupidly clicked on an obituary video on a forum i read, and the first 7 minutes was really sweet, a mom telling the story of her daughter who ran off to become a hobo as a kid, hopped trains, traveled around, had a bunch of shitty boyfriends, got addicted to heroin, went to rehab a bunch of times, then eventually died from a fentanyl overdose, right there in mom's house. And i was like, yeah, man, another one bites the dust thanks to this epidemic of shitty drugs in rural and suburban USA/Canada. I mean, she was a privileged white girl, but they still deserve the same empathy as the black and indigenous folks who've been dealing with similar drug epidemics in their communities for decades.
And then, SMASH KRANGGGGG just when you thought it was a sentimental video about someone celebrating their daughter as a free spirit while also making a point about how utterly shitty opioids are, here comes the Jesus.
Fuck fucking Jesus.
Seriously. Fuck that guy.
Although, to be fair, i suspect if he was alive today he'd be pissed at how many people use his name to push their shitty cults.
Like, i get it. Some people are religious. And religious people decide to lean on their faith when someone close to them dies, because the whole point of religion is to provide spiritual comfort when the real world serves you up a plate of crap that you never wanted to eat.
But. To then spin your daughter's fucking death as a calling to God, in fact as a moral lesson to anyone watching the video, to imply that only Jesus Himself can save you from becoming a drug addict, yo. FUCK OFF.
That shit makes me so angry.
I am young enough that all of my friends to date have not yet died of old age or disease, but i have lost quite a few friends, and they all died to suicide or overdose. And more than one of them came from a very religious background. And it's exactly that background that led them to the kind of lifestyles that ended up having them die. Trying to escape that oppression destroys a lot of people. Some turn to drugs, and end up dying as a result. Others realize their identity isn't compatible with their family's ultra-conservative expectations and kill themselves because they can't handle the internal conflict, drilled into them from years of religious conditioning.
Religion fucking kills.
I do understand that for some people it's a comfort. I get it.
But it's really gross to capitalize on a family member's death to shill your church. Fuck all of the way off, Mrs Pastor's Wife.
Yo, when my best friend killed herself, the woman who had run away from her family's expectations to go to school on an athlete's scholarship at a US university, made her way to Toronto, lived in a women's shelter, made a bunch of friends in the city, came out as lesbian... and her pastor parents took her away to outback fucking middle of nowhere Canada for the funeral? When the bi woman who volunteered at an HIV support center, the only person i ever wore a dress for in my life - as a bridesmaid for her wedding - killed herself and her parents pulled out the Jesus at her funeral? No. Fuck all of the way off. Fuck all of you fucking Christian motherfuckers, i hate you.
Actually, no, i don't hate you.
I had a Christian upbringing too, not an especially pious one because my mother absolutely put the kibosh on that due to her resenting her Catholic guilt childhood, but you know, we still knew Easter was a thing, and Christmas, and i even went to church and Sunday school a handful of times. I read the Bible, or at least the children's illustrated version. I know the stories. I know the teachings. I don't believe in God, but i do believe Jesus was a guy who preached some good stuff, and brought hope to some oppressed people living under the jackboot of Roman rule. I mean. He's a historically interesting guy.
But that's a sidetrack. Living in the countries i lived in growing up, Christianity was the dominant religion. However all of them are equally shit. In my years as an adult i have met Muslim guys who were incredibly conflicted about their same-sex attraction, who also ended up turning to drugs/alcohol to deal with it. In China i met people from traditional Buddhist or Daoist or just general traditional Chinese folk religion backgrounds whose parents could not accept that the kids had same-sex attraction, whether gay or bi. This shit is universal. And the common element is utterly fucked up religions.
So excuse the fuck out of me when i roll my eyes at the latest right-wing conspiratorial wank about how drag queens are "grooming" children or how acknowledging trans people is going to result in a sudden torrent of men abusing women in the women's toilets. Fuck all of the way off. Get back to me when a bunch of your friends overdosed or killed themselves because their gay parents wouldn't let them be straight, or because their hobo parents wouldn't let them go to college and get an office job.
I know i've gone completely off topic. I'm rambling. I'm drunk. Am i a drunk because of a religious upbringing? No, i am a drunk because it is what it fucking is, and i make no apologies or excuses about it. I don't like that i have to work to survive. I don't like that my body is covered in whatever lesions that i still don't know what they are. And i kinda enjoy getting blitzed, although i know i will regret it and hate myself tomorrow. And you know what i really don't want? Some goddamn preacher telling me that if i found God, i would totally not have a problem any more.
You know how many drunks and drug addicts rant about how in touch they are with God?
Yeah. Shut the fuck up.
Jesus Christ.