The Middle Distance

Ack! and *chuckle* Thanks for the link, I was unfamiliar with the Rude Pundit.

There's some scary prejudiced stuff going on right now, on both sides of the Border. But damn, they're inspiring people to tar all Christians with the same brush. (I'm proud to be one of the tolerant, inclusive Canuck Christians.)

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Aw geez, I know even most Christians aren't like that at all. Just takes a few loud-mouthed hate-spewing Pharisees to fling the poo over everybody, though.

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Oh, dear. I wasn't meaning to suggest that you couldn't tell the difference, V! -- I was alluding (lamely, it seems) to some lines in the piece by the Rude Pundit.

With the way the mainstream, hardline Christian loudmouths are acting these days, I swear, sometimes I am truly ashamed of my religion, in its current state. Jesus taught us about love and kindness and treating everyone as a child of God; but a lot of self-important hooligans keep overlaying that with bigotted, prejudiced crap. 2,000+ years = a lot to shovel ....

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And I'm sorry if it looked like I thought you thought I thought that! No, not at all. I just feel bad for you guys being defined to so many by the most odious denominator...it's so much work to keep standing up and saying "No, it's not really like that" all the time. But thank God/dess(es) you do!

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Unfortunately every religion has its crazy fanatics who warp the tenets of their faith to suit their own fears and hatreds. Among Christians, we have the gay-bashing goofs; among Pagans/Wiccans, there are the "call fire from the sky and burn the Christians" nutcases (been on the receiving end of that particular chant, years agone); among the Muslims, there are sucide bombers. None of those represent the true and good and proper form of the religion.

Between the nutcases and the newspapers, we're constantly asked to believe that the few are representative, and that the worst case scenario is the normal state of being. Pfah. You're right, it's wearying. But if we give up, they win .... Thank God/dess(es) that there are good, sane, caring people in any group, to stand up to the insanity of the few. ;]

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That description of self-righteous Wiccans... yeesh, I've met that sort. Can't decide yet if they're worse than the utter newbies who think that the epitome of Witchiness is Silver Ravenwolf *deep shudder*

IMO, all forms of extremism are bad stuff. I should know, being BP, how wrong and overwhelming extremities feel. Why anyone would actively choose to live (or die) that way is beyond me.

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That description of self-righteous Wiccans... yeesh, I've met that sort. Can't decide yet if they're worse than the utter newbies who think that the epitome of Witchiness is Silver Ravenwolf *deep shudder*

They're both awful, but I'm inclined to think the self-righteous hate-filled ones are worse. At least the fluffy newbies have no malice.

On the other hand, most of the virulently angry ones I've known have really suffered at the hands of abusive pseudo-Christian cults in one way or another, and anger is a stage you have to pass through in healing, so...

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Er... I thought you were pagan too? Going to have to re-read some emails, because now I'm utterly confused :/

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Let me tell you a story. I have a friend with dual US/Canadian citizenship. When he crosses the Border into the US, he's American; when he crosses the Border into Canada, he's Canadian. It's just simpler that way.

Religiously, I'm a dual homer; raised Christian and assimilated as Pagan, I consider myself both. Out in the woods at night, and better it be if the moon is full, I dance in the Lady's light; Sunday mornings, I sit in the chancel and sing the soprano part of assorted Elgar and plainsong. At times, it just makes sense to me to stand up and be counted on a particular issue. When Christians are being bleeding idiots, I feel a need to oppose them as a Christian.

Sorry if I confused you. Hell, some days I confuse me. (But not many.) ;]

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Hee. My mom has dual US/Brazilian citizenship, she does that all the time (and there are certain parts of the world she won't use the US passport at all if she can help it).

Makes perfect sense - if you're "dual" in some way, it seems like a denial of who you are, some part of yourself, to do otherwise. In a way I've dealt with a version of this all the time, as a bi-ethnic person who looks just "white" and I feel it's important to point out that it's not that simple. :)

Your description of your faiths is beautiful, and I see no contradiction.

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No, actually that makes sense to me. Might not to others, but it does to me. I assimilate from plenty areas, and I'm as eclectic as an Eclectic can get :)

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catherinecookmn.livejournal.com

Hey, since Christianity really is polytheistic, no matter how much some Christians try to act otherwise (why else do we have the Trinity? Not to mention all those saints?), this makes perfect sense to me!

You're in the same position as a Voudoun/Christianity hybrid person who sees no problem in praying to both Jehovah and to Erzulie Dantor.

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Eggs-actly.

Most practitioners of Candomble in Brazil consider themselves also to be Catholic. And they are.

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Whew. I'm glad to have read several articles today about how very unlikely this amendment is to pass. It's quite a relief. I thought I was going to have to move to Canada or the Netherlands just to find a safe haven in this world.

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Hey, there, lady -- you know you're welcome up here. We'll find a way, if you decide you need to relocate north. ;]

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Will it be cooler temps? I could sure use that.

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Somewhat. Actually, consulting a map, you're not all that much farther south than I am. Nestled among the Great Lakes here, it can get really humid in the summer -- but only for a few days a year, and God gave us air conditioning ... ;]

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Mr. Weed's parents live in Toronto (his dad's Canadian though they lived in the US long enough to raise their kids here) and the weather isn't notably worse than ours...honestly there are few places as beautiful as Ontario in October.

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The next time you and Mr. Weed visit the in-laws, please let me know -- perhaps we visit for a while over a bottle of wine.

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I would love that!

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Not a fucking chance. It needs 2/3 of the Senate to advance and that is NOT going to happen. (The only Democrat who hasn't said a flat NO when asked is that big-headed Trent Lott wannabe freak from Nebraska).

It's pure pandering, like dangling a carrot in front of the fundies to try to get 'em to the polls. Like that flag-burning thing they trot out every five years or so when they think people aren't being jingoistic enough. (Except of course that this is hate speech against actual people, not a piece of fabric.)

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catherinecookmn.livejournal.com

Exactly. They're doing it as a Get-Out-The (Fundy) Vote exercise. Harry Reid's been assiduously pointing this out for months now.

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rexluscus.livejournal.com

Wow, I haven't laughed that hard for a long time. Thanks for the link! :)

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You're welcome - glad to spread the love. :)

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very-improbable.livejournal.com

LITTLE JOHN!

. . .ahem. I'm all right now.

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htebazytook.livejournal.com

That is wonderful. XD Thanks for linking.

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SO glad you enjoyed. That's not even one of his fouler screeds, but I liked it. :)

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Just read the link and utterly loved it. My favourite part is the final line: "And, strangely, we believed God was happy for us being so creative with the sweet bodies he created." How true, preach it RP. Awesome stuff.

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Isn't that beautiful? His utter pottymouth also enables him to write lines like that. It's the linguistic equivalent of "A witch who cannot hex cannot heal."

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