A week or two ago I was in the library at the Fashion Institute of Technology where I am currently finishing my degree in Fashion Merchandising. I was buried in my laptop, focused on what I was doing, and so I barely noticed the girl who had approached me.
"Are you busy right now?" she asked. "Yes, I am," I said. "Why?" She responded, "Well, I am a Christian and I just wanted to show you this book..."
She proceeded to take a pamphlet out of her bag that was titled something like, "The such and such number promises of Jesus."
I immediately told her that I was extremely busy and that I did not have time to see her book, and she thanked me and left, presumably to go accost some other innocent library-goer.
After she walked away, I wondered at first whether this girl sought me out because I appeared to have a "godless soul." Then I realized that it would be impossible to tell me apart from a believer merely from my outward appearance. Sure, I wasn't wearing a Star of David or a Cross around my neck, but not all religious people make their faith obvious to outsiders in this way. I wondered how people of other faiths would have reacted to this girl coming up to them and wanting to preach to them about the salvation of their souls. I imagine that even another believer would feel uncomfortable being approached like that, especially in a place like a library, where people do not, in general, especially during the week before finals, go to be educated about other faiths that they may or may not choose to practice.
What this really comes down to is proselytizing. As much as readers of my blog may have gathered that I believe a world without religion would be a much better place, I don't mind religion so much when it is practiced in a personal manner and does not infringe upon the rights of others. But when someone approaches me in a library and wants to tell me about her beliefs, and religious conservatives are fighting against human rights every day, in the forms of "Don't Ask Don't Tell," "The Defense of Marriage Act", the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act", and crusading against stem cell research (that, might I add, has already cured numerous diseases), among many others, because they believe it goes against their Bible, that's when it starts to bother me.
Live and let live (a.k.a. leave people the fuck alone).
- Jessica
- Welcome to The Secular Gospel According to Jess! In this blog you’ll find everything from cartoons that make me laugh, to quotes that inspire me, to stories of my own personal experience when it comes to dealing with religion and pretty much everything in between. The title of my blog is intended to be ironic, as one doesn’t often hear the word, “gospel”, associated with secularism, but my intent is to preach, for lack of a better word, what I think gospel should really be about: love, rationalism, fairness, equality, human rights, science and truth. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment