Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Wednesday Morning and Not Enough Coffee in the World for this Shit

This morning when I logged into Facebook, it looked like my inbox had exploded.  Among the normal daily morning messages I had 20, yes 20 messages from people who didn't agree with some of the things I've been posting on my Timeline lately. After reading these messages and getting angrier as I read each one, I walked away from the computer, got a cup of coffee and then went back and read them once again to see if I had possibly taken them out of context or misunderstood what the intended message was. NOPE... I did not make a mistake.

It seems as if I have offended folks by expressing my stance on Gay marriage... I've also been called to task for my *Christian bashing*. Hrmmm...

Let me remind you all of a few facts about me:

First and foremost I am married to a Christian..a very liberal open minded Christian. Even though he is Christian and I am Witch, we get along very well together. He may not always agree with me and my point of view, but he's always willing to listen to what I have to say. Sometimes he agrees, others not so much. And that works just fine for us and our relationship...

I grew up in a very Christian home, I went to church a minimum of 3 times a week. I was very active from the time I was 9 years old in various parts of my church, from Jr Church, to Jr choir,and as I grew my participation INCREASED. As a teen, I was an officer in our youth group, I did fundraising for the missionary group we were supporting, I became a member of the adult choir at age 15, I went to church camp every summer, I have read the Bible in various translations from cover to cover many times, I did everything a good Christian girl is supposed to do. I was *saved* and baptized with the Holy Spirit... I was the living, breathing, scripture spouting perfect example of a church going teenager.

Unfortunately, I grew disillusioned with the things my church/religion stood for and when I asked questions no one took the time to try and answer them. The standard reply was *read your Bible, you'll find the answers you are looking for in the scripture*. At the same time I was being a good Christian girl, I was witnessing first hand some of the very things being preached against from the pulpit on Sunday mornings happening with members of my own congregation. The people I went to church with, the ones I looked up to, the ones who were pillars of our community, the ones who were supposed to be the example for the young people in our church family were committing some of he same things that were supposed to send you to hell. Even though these things were happening, we weren't supposed to talk about them or acknowledge them. To say I was confused, hurt and angry would be an understatement. I lost all respect for the people in my church and this is just one of the contributing factors of why I left organized religion. There are many more and if you have been reading my blog for any length of time you have seen some of the entries describing the things that added up to the choice to leave. I'm not going to reiterate them in this entry. 

Now that I am older, I like to think I am a bit wiser. I know I'm more open minded and tolerant of things I don't understand or may be different from the things I believe. I no longer practice the Christian faith, I am a Witch... not Wiccan, a Witch. If you are confused, the explanation can be found HERE . I'm also a liberal Democrat, I support Gay Marriage, I voted for Barak Obama in 2008 and I will vote for him again in 2012. I've also been called an activist, a term I'm not completely comfortable with...yet. I haven't been able to do much on the activism front, no rally's, no protests, no canvasing my neighborhood. All I do is write letters and emails and try to get the word out to as many people as possible on my Facebook page about which ever issues is at hand at the time. 

I am against bullying in ANY form, I support the LGBT community, I am bi-sexual, I tolerate NO bullshit and call it as I see it. I have a big mouth and I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind. I took the blinders off many years ago and won't be put back in a position where I can only see what goes  on in my little corner of the world. 

It all boils down to this: 

My Timeline on Facebook is exactly that... MY Timeline. The things I say there are me exercising my right to free speech. I may engage in a heated discussion on something you have posted on yours, but I would never be so arrogant as to tell you what content you can post on yours. So don't think you can come to mine and try to dictate to me the things I feel passionate about. If you can't be open minded, live with who I am and how I believe without feeling I am directing my comments to you, please unfriend me. I do NOT see me changing my ideas or passions any time in the near future.