The Saturnalia Conundrum
(Late entry as always, but something that has been on my mind for the last few weeks. Gonna try to write this down before I lose my train of thoughts.)
First, a bit of background. I genuinely like my current linkshell (ConquestofParadise). A big part of it is that I get along rather well with our linkshell leader. Even though we are very different in terms of temperament, she seems to truly value my inputs and I suppose our personalities mesh pretty well. (I am fairly reserved most of the time, so I do need someone who can draw me out of my shell every now and then.) Lastly, not being an American-and this becomes important later on-she tends to have a rather unusual perspective on things.
Anyway, some people in linkshell have been making some disparaging remarks toward religious figures. Our fearless leader decided that this was not acceptable and said so in the linkshell message. Okay, no arguments there. She then mentioned to me in /tell that she was thinking about outlawing atheism in the linkshell.
I objected immediately. Those two things are not really related, I stated. Regulating other people's actions is one thing, attempting to regulate other people's beliefs seems like a fool's errand. Whether someone believes Jesus to be the son of God, one of many prophets, a great teacher, or just a guy is not really important to me, the important thing is to-I don't know-not call him names. That isn't asking for much.
A quick resolution was never likely, though. The linkshell leader mentioned that the ones making disparaging remarks were all atheists. "Possibly, but they are probably all Americans," I countered. I then pointed out that many Americans have a...difficult relationship with religions in general, considering that this is a nation where some people do wear "pro-life, pro-God, pro-gun" t-shirt unironically. In retrospect, that may not have been fair. For one thing, being uneasy around organized religion is not a uniquely American thing. For another, I have never cared for this type of generalization, and this felt like more of a misdirection than a well-considered argument.
A misdirection it may have been, things did settle down momentarily. And then-because I just cannot leave well enough alone-I followed up by digging up some ancient history and asking her why she removed the "Merry Saturnalia" LS message. (More background here: Around Christmas somebody put up the "Merry Saturnalia" LS message. I thought that was rather clever. But then it was replaced with the standard "Merry Christmas" message a day later. I somewhat playfully complained about the return to "Christian orthodoxy," knowing full well the message itself is by no means religious.) She explained that it led to a discussion, and more importantly, she did not wish to exclude anyone wanting a proper Christmas.
I didn't understand why a discussion would be a bad thing (though admittedly I have no context), and said so. And I casually mentioned that Christianity incorporating a Roman holiday like Saturnalia into its own traditions is something to be admired. It is, after all, a sound strategic move. But it is also an expression of inclusiveness, something that Christianity had moved away from over the years. So, to me, Christianity absorbing Saturnalia was a positive thing.
"We can talk about such things in theory," the linkshell leader declared, "but the others must never hear of such things, or they might start questioning things." She paused. "Do you understand?"
It took me about a minute to pick my jaw off the floor. Momentarily stunned, my mind was filled with random questions: What is life? What is the point of being alive? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
My salvation came in the form of the following words: "Of course, I was only playing." My composure regained, I tried to sound cool. "Um...yeah." I supposed we more or less reached some kind of understanding then, even if she still talked briefly about outlawing atheism. I just assumed that she wouldn't actually phrase it that way to the linkshell, or perhaps she was just playing.
Weeks passed. The disparaging remarks basically stopped, which needed to happen. No one was kicked or suspended from the LS. No one mentioned Saturnalia again.
And I can't help but wonder...
What if I am the one with the skewed perspective? Even though I may joke about it, does replacing "Merry Saturnalia!" with a more traditional "Merry Christmas!" bother me just a little? Does living in a country where a small vocal minority has distorted people's view on religion make it difficult for Americans to relate to people from other countries in matters of faith? And does that affect my ability to empathize with people of faith? After all, as this wonderful episode of Crash Course: World History pointed out, religion does have the power to transform people's lives-sometimes in a negative way, it is true-in ways that people today may not fully appreciate. That's a bit sad if understandable, but it's infinitely worse if the chasm between the secular and the religious has become too great to overcome, to the point that neither side can engage the other in a meaningful way. Because that is frightening, no matter which side you belong to.