Atheist Christian???

In honor of what is perhaps the greatest coup by chocolate and egg marketers (eg Easter) I am going to post about religion. You may stop cringing Pat for this is not to be the blogger equivalent of a crusade.

I believe in God. Let’s get that out of the way off the bat shall we. I say this because many people in my acquaintance are surprised to learn this. Apparently I don’t seem like the type. I would talk about this but that is a matter for another day.

Although I believe in God, I don’t consider myself a practicing Christian. I went to church on a pretty regular basis until early adulthood, even taught Sunday School for awhile but I haven’t attended with any kind of regularity since I started college. I suppose that makes me what my minister likes to call a Christmas and Easter Christian. More on that later. There are many reasons for my lack of church attendance in recent years but the main one is that I don’t feel that attending church at this point in my life is a necessary component of my religious beliefs. Put another way, I don’t need to go to church to believe in God, Jesus and so on. Obviously many are going to disagree with this view and do.

The question that inspired this post is where does someone like me fit in in the religious vs not religious debate. As I’ve said, I identify as Christian but I do not attend church. In recent times this has made me feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place. Many of my fellow Christians few me as a traitor, sell out, poser and so on. Fair enough but people on the other side of the debate have a tendency to lump me in with people who hand out cards on campus. I don’t think either is a fair assessment. There doesn’t seem to be a happy medium. You’re either with us or against us sort of thing and I don’t think that’s fair. Religion is a choice and not only should everyone be free to choose what if any religion to practice/identify with, so too should there be a choice in how they do so. Organized religion is not for everyone but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t be religious.

Which brings me to the Christmas/Easter Christian thing. I have many issues with this label, mainly for the reasons mentioned above. It suggests that if you only attend certain days you are not really Christian. That might even be true but not for everyone and besides, does it matter? Who cares if someone chooses to only go to church those two days of the year. Is anyone getting hurt? Who gives us the right to say when or why someone should attend. This isn’t school; there’s no attendance list, no 20 percent for participation and attendance. Are you less of a believer if you attend one day a year or not at all? Are you automatically a ‘better’ Christian if you attend every day. I don’t think so.

Post-Puberty

One of the obstacles in the face of updating this blog is that I can never decide what to write about; there are so many possibilities. For example, after Pat’s accusation of blog neglect I found myself torn between writing about religion, marriage in the twenty-first century or post-puberty. Although I plan on writing all of these, post-puberty has won out for now because it’s just such a cool term.

No doubt if you don’t spend any time around Casey or myself and have not had the pleasure of having us explain the concept of post-puberty to you, you’re probably going wtf? Never fear for I am here to explain it to you. Post-puberty is a concept borne out of a conversation between Casey and myself one boring Monday so the credit is not all mine.

Post-puberty is a condition that afflicts an alarming number of people in their early to mid-twenties. It is an epidemic indeed. And don’t think having a Y chromosome prevents you from suffering from the worst of it. Oh no, post-puberty does not discriminate between genders although females may experience more severe symptoms.

Now that I’ve got you all looking for strange rashes and other goodies (you hypochondriacs :o)), I should explain just what it is you are suffering from. Post-puberty is a sort of mental puberty. We all know what happens during puberty right? Hormones go out of whack, teen angst ensues and then eventually you’re an adult and life goes on it’s merry way. Or so you think.

Then you hit your early twenties and realize that it won’t be long before you’ll have to start really ACTING like an adult. This doesn’t just mean an increase in maturity but GASP responsibility. Soon you are faced with the dreaded question “what are you going to do when you graduate.” If you are like many a student, this question will inevitably result in the onset of panic and nervous twitches as you are faced with the reality that you will not be able to stay in school forever and will, not too long from now, have to go out into the real world, get a real job and stop leeching off of parents, the government or part-time employment for money. Quelle tragedie! At this point you may also realize that the chances of striking it rich in media studies, philosophy or basket weaving is rather slim and that a job probably won’t just be dropped on your lap when you graduate.

For members of the fairer sex it is even more difficult. I know, I know, we always get the short end of the stick but at least we live longer. Women are also faced with the question of when/if they are going to have children, if they are going to have a career or a family etc etc. And no matter what she chooses, there will be an arm of society that will think she is doing a disservice to womankind, her children, society and so on. We can’t win!

Ah life, sucks doesn’t it? But don’t crack open your collection of angsty-poems from your teen years just yet. All is not lost. Though I’m still stuck in post-puberty myself, I’ve heard rumors that just like its predecessor, this too shall pass. And look on the bright side, the next time you need to get out of gym class you can claim mental menstruation.