Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?
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I was raised Catholic and found it confusing. In my 20s I became a born again Christian and got a lot out of it. But by middle age when the blinders fell off my eyes, I could never unsee what started becoming crystal clear: the patriarchy in religions. Interestingly, the book “Dance of the Dissident Daughter" by Sue Monk Kidd fell into my hands; I had no idea what the book was even about when I began reading it, but she went through similar insights and the book was so helpful to me.
Christians are too often closed minded and don't consider that others experience spirituality in different ways. Roseanne Cash, Johnny's daughter, wrote beautifully of how art in its many forms and music are “more trustworthy expressions of God than religion." Too many Christians I know won't even listen to another point of view. Women seem especially conditioned and seem to take delight in being “good little girls" even as adults, always prioritizing the opinions of men and allowing men to call the shots. In other words, submission.
Wrenn, your dad was happy you were a virgin even months after being married, but how well did that go over with your husband?
On the topic of accents in the U.S., generally those in southern states speak with a drawl. I live in east central Ohio and the drawl starts becoming apparent in southern Ohio where my brother lives. He has a noticeable twang which I personally like. Southerners often speak more slowly than Northerners. In Tennessee, I got a kick out of hearing the word “buffet" pronounced boo-fay, and theater was said thhee-ATE-er. The descriptive phrase “big ole" falls into the regional colloquialism category, A person would use that in a humorous way where I live but further south it may be said more sincerely. With my close proximity to Pittsburgh, I sometimes use the word “yinz" when talking to two or more friends, as in “What are yinz watching?" I'd never use the word in more formal settings.
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I grew up in Illinois, about 30 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. I always thought we sounded accentless, and that was borne out by my time in the Air Force - the young women from military families that had moved frequently sounded very much like people I grew up with. But then I noticed on my phone message that I sounded like the Howells from Gilligan's Island, kind of Long Island Lockjaw! Someone I grew up with left a phone message for me one day and she sounded exactly like I did - a very flat voice with a non-southern drawl. I don't notice it in people from nearby towns. For Illinois, the southern-ish accent started much farther south, about 100 miles. I've been stuck in Missouri for several years, and the southern accent (of the yee-haw variety) starts just a county or so south of St. Louis. The difference might be the large German immigrant population in Illinois in the 19th century.
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I'm Memphis, TN born and raised. My accent is usually pretty subtle aside from "y'all" and "darlin'", but there are certainly times when it comes to the fore.
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I’m originally from Cincinnati, a place full of Kentucky and German accents. Plus a bunch of others. I have relatives in Ky and Tennessee that I sometimes can’t understand their accents are so thick. But if they slow down a bit, I can understand Southernese.
I had a bit of a drawl, but after almost 40 years here, it’s gone. I miss it.
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Wrenn, have you seen the video short about the voice activated elevator in Scotland? It's brilliant!
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My first post here. I am an atheist myself, there is not one faith I believe in myself. I have faith that things in my life will work out they way they are supposed to. I don't mind if other people show faith in front of me either as saying prayers may help others through difficult times.
Hi Wrenn and everyone.
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Thanks wrenn, happy to see you too!
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Mirandra - The Scottish elevator clip is really funny! I needed something like that today. Re accents, my mother grew up in Washington, DC then moved to the west coast not long after she got married. When I was pretty young, she too would say "y'all". She would holler out the window at us, "Ya'll ready for dinner?" and things like that. She gradually lost that and it just became, "you all", which I actually picked up and say myself. The DC locals and Marylanders had a lot of southernisms in their speech and culture. "Oh, Lordy!" was another one of their sayings that my mother gradually dropped and it became just "Oh, Lord!" when she was incredulous about something.
Wrenn - Are you getting all that fire smoke that's down here, up your way? It's giving me a headache and sore eyes. Supposed to clear out in the next day or two I think.
Re the religion topic of this thread, I had an interesting experience over the last couple of days. I have said here before that I'm not actually an atheist, but somewhere between "believer" and agnostic. However, I've never liked people pushing religion, being showy about it, etc. I also mentioned before that I have an extended family member who is what would be called a "conservative Catholic" - very devout. We don't agree on politics, etc., but we just "don't go there" with each other. There are so many other things that bind us together and that we enjoy about each other that we just don't get into politics and religion much, if ever, when we talk.
Well, yesterday I spoke to her on the phone and she told me how she is having a big medical procedure (angiogram) on Monday, because she has recently learned that her heart is in really bad shape. She is very scared, worried, anxious - you name it, we all know those feelings, and she asked me to please pray for her. Well, I'm not particularly a "prayer", but here I was with my SIL who is terrified and finds tremendous comfort in religion and the idea of praying for others. Didn't really know what to do or say. I didn't verbally respond to her request over the phone yesterday; didn't giver her a "yes" or "no" about whether I would pray for her or not, because I did not want to be a hypocrite or lie to her. However, overnight, I thought about how much it means to her, so this morning when I got up I added her initials (to keep anonymity) and a request that others pray for her on an Irish Jesuit website. (She and I are both of Irish Catholic descent, but I am also of English and Scottish descent.) I emailed her this morning about what I had done and told her that Carmelite nuns in Dublin and others at other places would now get this prayer request in her name, and that I hoped it would help her feel better about Monday. She told me it was one of the nicest emails she has received in a long time and thanked me profusely. She told me how she really thinks it is helping her face the fear of Monday.
Many of us have trouble with people saying they will pray for us, or asking us to pray for them, but I do realize how much the idea of asking for prayers and praying for others means to so many people. When I realized how much comfort this brings to my SIL, it made me think about how those who say they will "pray for us", etc. really are well intentioned, and it isn't meant to be rude. It can be a real dilemma if you are not a "big believer", but someone who is, asks you to participate in a religious activity. If her reaction and tremendous appreciation for what I did is any example, I guess I did the right thing, in spite of my own questioning of religion.
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miriandra, the elevator skit was great! I saw a funny video of an Irish woman trying desperately to get Alexa to play a song too, so funny. I have an ear for accents and specific voices, so I often translate to my husband when watching UK mysteries or Derry girls, which is hilarious.
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I remembered incorrectly, it was Scottish trouble with Alexa, not Irish.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=orD-e_W6Pic
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Wrenn - You probably have a bit of a breeze there by the water. Our wind here today is about 0. That's frightening about your daughter's cabin. I hope they weren't staying there or hoping to this week.
The one thing I do like about all of this wildfire smoke is that it smells like a campfire; that part's kind of nice. I have an old childhood friend whose been living in Anchorage, AK now for decades, and she says they have always had this, but they are getting more now. She says it can totally ruin whole summers in Anchorage and has on many occasions. It just never clears out sometimes.
Yes, this has to be climate change. I've lived here my whole life and this has only become a phenomenon in the last few years.
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The elevator sketch cracked me up. When my sister and I travelled on Brit Rail for two weeks back in 1992, I acted as translator when we were in "the North" most of the time it was not an issue for me. Has anyone seen the movie "Riff Raff" (1991) Robert Carlyle the and a host of other actors. It had subtitles. Much needed. Scots, Irish, regional English accents.
I am agnostic, or Pantheistic ---- don't really know what I am. Not conventional religions. I like rituals but only for the spectacle. I like the mass in Latin because it just sounds sort of magical, since I don't speak Latin. I like Gregorian chants.
wrenn: I am just shaking my head and choosing not to ask "how come" after all that time.
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Wrenn, 😅😅😅😅😅
I must be in a Scots cultural appropriation phase. Lately, every time we're driving out in the country, instead of just saying "cows," I say "wee coo beasties."
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IllieMae, that was hilarious! I shared it with DH, and he's dying now. Scottish accents are particularly difficult for voice recognition software to track for some reason.
In that vein, the first minute of this movie clip is beautiful. (It's from Simon Pegg's "Hot Fuzz") West Country Accent Translated - Hot Fuzz (2007)
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Hey Mara - nice to see you.
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Oh, wrenn. Thank you for the laugh. I think I want to be either you or Alice B. when I grow up. You're my heroes.
Trish
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Trish, Grow up? What's that? Thank you, though, and here's your snarky old bat goal:
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Quick wit or half wit? It's what I use when I don't have a real answer for anything.
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I like, "Better a smart ass than a dumb ass."
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Hello - needed to find this topic today.
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Welcome. Please check back in any time.
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Britney Spears no longer believes in God: 'I'm an atheist'
"It saddens me not one of you has valued me as a person," she stated. "You've witnessed how my family has been with me...Honestly, my dad needs to be in jail for the rest of his life. But as I said, God would not have let this happen to me. If a God existed. I don't believe in God anymore because of the way my children and my family have treated me. There is nothing to believe in anymore. I'm an atheist y'all. ... So Jayden, as you undermine my behaviour just like my family always has, with, 'Hope she gets better, I will pray for her.' Pray for what? I keep working so I can pay off mom's legal fees and her house?"
Britney's tired of being used for her money.
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My eldest kid shared this with me.
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miriandra, thanks for the video link! It always makes me feel relieved to hear others speak out loud the things I say think in my head. The video is great and all the points made are valid. Why would a god care about eating or not eating pork? So many religious people refuse to use or allow others to use critical thinking. They insist on blind faith in god, no questions permitted. I will have to watch more of this fellow, Bo Burnham.
Omgosh, the display of religion from others in my life continues! A large group of us who go to the pool all summer met up for lunch yesterday. It took awhile to get our food, but finally as it arrived, someone at the far end of the table started saying grace. Then a couple women on on the other side of bowed their heads and said it. The place was noisy, so not everyone at the table could hear well, and I was seated in the middle so the lady next to me said, “I’ll say grace for our table”. And she blathered on, even tho grace had been said twice. Well, I sure won’t be meeting up with them for lunch again. I like them all well enough to float around in the pool, but for crying out loud, I’m not saying grace with them.
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Miriandra- enjoyed the video. Thank you for sharing it. Gave me a good laugh for the day.
Wonder if Brittany is just trying to get her children”s attention or if this is really something she’s thought about?
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My understanding about the not eating pork thing, that some religions adhere to, is because centuries and millenia (sp?) ago, pork was more often than not contaminated with trichomoniasis and eating it was frequently a death sentence. Modern times have pretty much eliminated that issue, but I think many continue with both the religious belief and simply cultural tradition. A lot of old religious beliefs were started due to inherent dangers in life way back when. People were admonished by their religious leaders not to do certain things, because in times past, certain behaviors would likely lead to a bad end. A lot of old and traditional "cultural wisdom" was often mixed with religion to help guide people in their lives.
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My sister took a religious history course in college, and one thing I remember was the meat prohibition on Friday came about as a financial support for fishermen. Trust religion to make it a "Do this or burn in hell forever" issue.
Divine, one of my co-workers in our little lunch group always said grace. But she'd just bow her head for a few seconds, and we could see her lips move, but she never made a sound and never announced it. Total respect for people like her.
The place we worked was a cultural non-profit, and the building we were in had been a synagogue at one time. There was always an email to staff in our building every year to have no Christmas decorations in public areas. But the institution always flooded our lobby with poinsettia plants, which I always thought were heavily associated with Christmas, but I guess as long as they didn't spell out Noel or Jesus, everything was hunky dory with them. There used to be a large gala-type staff & spouse/partner dinner party every year, held in the main building (not the ex-synagogue), for longevity awards and forced fun. The director, hypocrite-in-chief, made a big fuss about diversity and would have a (Black) administrative assistant sing gospel music (because it's all he thought they listened to 🙄) and have one of the (Black) housekeepers say a long Hallelujah Brother prayer before we could hit the buffet.. The table I usually sat at included Jewish, Unitarian, Agnostics, and Atheists (hey, capitalization should be for everyone!), and I know that at different times, we had Moslem and Pagan and New Age staff members (one confused but otherwise lovely woman had been Methodist, Hari Krishna, Pagan, Agnostic, Moslem, and Jewish, mostly by marriage, but we had other staff who were one each). Every year we'd grumble but it never changed, until we asked the Unitarian department head to say a strong word or two - figuring she was the best representative of all or no religions. It must have worked, because the caterwauling stopped.
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Oh, I haven't seen this posted here before.
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Alice, yes to the quiet moment of grace. As It should be done. I am so sick of these women pushing their religion on me! I actually think the one woman secretly likes doing it because she knows it bugs me. Ain’t that Christian of her! I will be spendin little to no time with her from now on.
It’s a shame what Britney is going thru but I don’t understand why all these celebrity people fight so publicly with one another. It gives the media a field day and complicates the problem.
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