You're offending me with your non-religion.
I wrote this for my "religion and popular culture" class. The assignment was this:
"You've read the chapter “Consuming Faith: Advertising, the Pornographic Gaze, and Religious Desire,” which discusses the ways in which Christian America and American feminists have defined and interpreted pornography - all of which have to do with conflict over what constitutes The Real. In addition, the text and lecture touch on the issue of authenticity in relation to the celebration of Christmas, and the controversy over child beauty pageants.
Choose one (or even two) of the issues from the chapter or the lecture slides (including, of course, any of the video clips included in the slides) that you find compelling or that raises questions in your mind. Discuss to your heart's content!"
And here is my discussion:
"I wanted to touch up on the whole “Christmas” issue since, like the lecture said, is becoming more and more secular. The efforts of making Church and State separate has become blatantly obvious. I understand the changes in our holiday-time: changing the name from “Christmas Break” to “Winter Break.” It only makes sense because other holidays like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa happen around the same time as Christmas. However, my bone to pick is with those who are wanting to change Christmas to profit their own beliefs (or lack there of). For example, last year I heard of the idea of changing the name “Christmas tree” into a “holiday tree” so as to not offend the non-religious population. However, an outside source trying to change a religion is offensive to that specific religion. It is true, however, that many of the Christian holidays are placed around other pagan holidays so as to deter the people from the old ways; and also explains why new holidays are popping up in order to include all cultures in the “holiday spirit.” I thought the short documentary on Kwanzaa was interesting because they touched on how America celebrates such differences as the Irish’s St. Patrick’s Day and the Mexican’s Cinco de Mayo. As it is, popular religion seems to be defined as whatever one chooses to believe, which goes back to unit one discussing “authentic faith.” "
To further more touch up on this, I came across an article about taking God out of Christmas:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/godless.holiday.ap/index.html
And this honestly infuriated me. For goodness sake, if you don't like how "religious" Christmas is, then don't celebrate it!!!! No one's making you! If you want to give gifts to show how much you care for another person, fine! By all means, do it! But don't go trying to change MY RELIGION just so you can be NOT OFFENDED, because guess what? YOU'RE BEING A HYPOCRITE. You are now offending ME by trying to change MY religion so that YOU can be a part of the media. Again, don't get me wrong, if you are truly offended if a group of us "religious extremist" (because that's what we all are to non-religious people), celebrating our religion around you, then that is something for us to be cautious of and not be so ignorant about. HOWEVER..if you are just whining to receive pity, then get over yourself...Maybe you should be thinking about what you do/don't believe in, and hard..because it sounds like you feel a little left out.
[This is originally posted in my facebook profile.]
"You've read the chapter “Consuming Faith: Advertising, the Pornographic Gaze, and Religious Desire,” which discusses the ways in which Christian America and American feminists have defined and interpreted pornography - all of which have to do with conflict over what constitutes The Real. In addition, the text and lecture touch on the issue of authenticity in relation to the celebration of Christmas, and the controversy over child beauty pageants.
Choose one (or even two) of the issues from the chapter or the lecture slides (including, of course, any of the video clips included in the slides) that you find compelling or that raises questions in your mind. Discuss to your heart's content!"
And here is my discussion:
"I wanted to touch up on the whole “Christmas” issue since, like the lecture said, is becoming more and more secular. The efforts of making Church and State separate has become blatantly obvious. I understand the changes in our holiday-time: changing the name from “Christmas Break” to “Winter Break.” It only makes sense because other holidays like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa happen around the same time as Christmas. However, my bone to pick is with those who are wanting to change Christmas to profit their own beliefs (or lack there of). For example, last year I heard of the idea of changing the name “Christmas tree” into a “holiday tree” so as to not offend the non-religious population. However, an outside source trying to change a religion is offensive to that specific religion. It is true, however, that many of the Christian holidays are placed around other pagan holidays so as to deter the people from the old ways; and also explains why new holidays are popping up in order to include all cultures in the “holiday spirit.” I thought the short documentary on Kwanzaa was interesting because they touched on how America celebrates such differences as the Irish’s St. Patrick’s Day and the Mexican’s Cinco de Mayo. As it is, popular religion seems to be defined as whatever one chooses to believe, which goes back to unit one discussing “authentic faith.” "
To further more touch up on this, I came across an article about taking God out of Christmas:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/godless.holiday.ap/index.html
And this honestly infuriated me. For goodness sake, if you don't like how "religious" Christmas is, then don't celebrate it!!!! No one's making you! If you want to give gifts to show how much you care for another person, fine! By all means, do it! But don't go trying to change MY RELIGION just so you can be NOT OFFENDED, because guess what? YOU'RE BEING A HYPOCRITE. You are now offending ME by trying to change MY religion so that YOU can be a part of the media. Again, don't get me wrong, if you are truly offended if a group of us "religious extremist" (because that's what we all are to non-religious people), celebrating our religion around you, then that is something for us to be cautious of and not be so ignorant about. HOWEVER..if you are just whining to receive pity, then get over yourself...Maybe you should be thinking about what you do/don't believe in, and hard..because it sounds like you feel a little left out.
[This is originally posted in my facebook profile.]