Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
So, how did you spend Easter?
It's a serious question. Many of us who are non-believers nonetheless are in family or other situations where some kind of participation or observation of this most important of Christian holidays.
Many times, even after I had left my Catholic faith far behind, I would attend Easter sunrise services with friends, or spend the day with family. My maternal grandmother always put out a big spread of food, and throughout the day the family would come by and try to avoid eating it (she was an OK cook, but her safe-food-handling skills were notoriously bad, and almost always someone in the family would get hit with a mild case of food poisoning).
Lots of atheists will still decorate eggs, or give the kids candy for Easter, because it is so much a part of the culture.
For me and my wife, it is just a routine day - since my mother-in-law passed on last month, we no longer need to even pretend to observe the holiday. But this is perhaps the first time in several years when I'm not doing *anything* in connection with the day.
So, what are you doing today?
Jim Downey
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Same old same old
Enjoying the yearly delicacy of Cadbury Eggs. Using the extra time to play video games, making a little headway into the new Twelve Kingdoms book. Being an atheist has its perks as it means sleeping in on religious holidays. Talking over the series finale of Blood+ with my mom. Enjoying a nearly empty grocery shopping trip (although the sushi was missed).
Thanks for the Break
After working retail for 25 years, whether you are a believer or a "non," I cherished those very few days out of the year that were guaranteed a break for all. I used to live in St. Louis where the Blue Law was in tact when I began working in the 70's. I realize it is not always convenient not to be able to shop on a Sunday, but it was great having a day you knew you could always get together with friends and family. Being in retail, most of my friends were too, making it hard to get more than just a couple of people together at a time....I know, get out the violin....
I don't expect anyone to have my religious belief in Jesus Christ shoved down their throats, but I will plead for the few days we have to get together with our families and get paid for it (in some cases) in the process.
It was a Peter Gibbons kind of weekend
As in, I did absolutely nothing on Easter Sunday (except sleep until about 1pm) and it was everything I imagined it could be ;-)
I had a late lunch downtown, listened to some podcasts on my iPod while I enjoyed my sandwich and diet coke, read a library book, then walked back home, had dinner, watched some episodes of THE FIRST 48 that I hadn't seen before, surfed the internet, then went to bed.
I didn't bother to go out shopping or anything as I figured a fair number of businesses might be closed. I could've gotten some work-related stuff done, but just blew it off.
Very lazy day.
U r right--it's all about
U r right--it's all about you, keep chasing, keep trying to fill your selves. Why bring up the topic (Easter)at all unless for some reason you feel slighted by life.
Continue to honor your self, and when you run out of ways, just keep chasing.
Now enough of that (previous dribble), for that's what you expect...As a quiet Worshiper I agree completely with the disgust you have for the "media" Christian to which you are acquainted. Jesus wept for this Pharisee in His day, and continues, now.
I am sorry for your loss of faith.
And sorry you're following a false Messiah
It's probably impolite to get into a discussion of religion here, Anon, but I feel sorry for people like you who have turned away from the true G-d (according to the Bible) and have chosen to follow a false messiah.
Much better to have spent last Sunday consuming chocolates and watching "Easter Parade" - definitely more satisfying to MY soul than listening to hypocrites praise a false messiah to persons willing to believe in myths and magic.
Left behind.
Nah, Anon, my faith wasn't lost - it was left behind. Like my belief in Santa Claus. Reality is so much better - you should try it.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Jesus Books
A little late for Easter, but I thoroughly enjoyed two fiction books about Jesus. One is José Saramago(nobel prize winner) "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" and the other by Robert Graves "King Jesus".
Also worth reading is the book by Robert Graves and Raphaël Patai, "The Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis".
Waited for the candy sales to start..........
It was pretty much like any Sunday. Not being a Christ-believer, no need to get out early, and I had no family or friends who obliged me to visit. Seemed a good day to watch movies and make soup and eat surgary little cartoony creatures in a rainbow of springtime colors. I notice from an online poll that not a lot of people were spending money this weekend.
I just wait for the candy sales to start. I always thought the Orthodox-Eastern Christians had it made, since they could fill their Easter baskets with goodies at half-price.
And bunny ears taste the same no matter what you pay. y;)
easter Sunday
I slept in, did some serious gaming, then went out to return movies and get food. Only then - faced with closed stores and little traffic - did I remember it was a christian holiday.
food, family, fun
Easter's just another excuse to get together with extended family to eat a big, delicious meal, talk, laugh, and enjoy each other. At the dinner table this year, of the ten people attending, all of whom were raised Catholic, only four had gone to church and I suspect they're the only four (two adults, two kids) who still "believe," and they don't talk about it. Anyway, it's a nice way to mark the arrival of spring, even though it was freezing outside!
We went separate ways
MrsDoF went to church and had a fine time; I spent the morning blogging about the Myers/Dawkins>Expelled kerfluffle. We met for lunch, I went to the gym. Then spiffed up a computer for my son as his old one was about to bite the dust.
Something I'm confused about
Hey, DoF, I'm confused about something: what did Decrepi tell the fool?
Rob Miles
--
There are only 10 types of people in the world;
those who understand binary and those who don't.
Sacrilicious
We had **Easter enchiladas and played a day of D&D b/c we could.
**Easter enchiladas are enchiladas consumed on Easter.
That's not an Easter dinner, this is an Easter dinner
I considered having an Easter dinner of roast rabbit and hard boiled eggs.
I suggested that to other people and they looked at me like I was nuts. (More than usual, I mean.) I hear Thanksgiving increasingly (though still mostly jokingly) referred to as Turkey Day. Eating rabbit on Easter just seems like the inverse of that phenomenon.
How better to commemorate the day the Easter Bunny laid the egg that Jesus hatched from?
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
Bitching and complaining...
I kind of knew it was Easter but not really. We don't have baskets or colored eggs or anything. I went to work for a few hours (in preparation to treat cancer patients on Monday) and then to the mall to pick up a new router.
The fucking mall is closed. The entire God damn thing! 4pm on a Sunday and it's closed. Not just the mall but Circuit City, Target, Radio Shack and a bunch of others.
Barnes and Nobles was open. All the restaurants were open and doing a booming business (except Chik Filet of course). So it's not like they couldn't find people to work.
I'm all for people having a day off. I come from a union background. But this giving everybody Easter God damn day off, I mean come on. I cannot help but think these people are playing holier than thou to impress their neighbors and/or trying to buy their way into heaven by showing god(s) what benevolent people they are.
So I bought that fucking router at WalMart. I had to pay $10 more than the one I wanted at Circuit City which was on sale.
I hate WalMart!
Tomorrow, I'm calling Circuit City's management to tell them my little story and explain I bought it at WalMart and spent the extra money to reward those who demonstrate they value me as a customer.
I'm also thinking of writing a letter to the editor thanking, by name, the stores that were open Easter.
Like I said, bitching and complaining.
Uhh?
You say you have a union background, but clearly you do not value the rights of the workers to spend Easter Day with their families. What if it's not holier-than-thou and they really want to have that day ? Are you going to force them cause today you wanted to buy a router ? That's a very weak background you got there.
Not exactly
Friend Littlehorn,
I do have a union background and fully support the 40 hr. work week, overtime at a higher pay rate, etc. I'm all for people having the day off, the weekend even. What got to me was we've gotten used to the convenience of shopping on the weekend, and being an atheist, I didn't expect so many things to be closed. If the mall was routinely closed on Sundays, I could have planned for it. As it was, it took me by surprise and the inconvenience of spending the time and gas money, etc. is what got to me.
The holier than thou aspect comes from the dichotomy of B+N and all the restaurants doing a good business while everything else was closed. So it's not like there wasn't a need or people willing to work on that day.
And as for Chick Filet, I must admit it irks me they're closed every Sunday. Like I said, I'm from a union background so I'm for people having the day off but why Sunday in particular? I'm sure if you're Jewish, they'll let you have Saturday off but you can't make up for the missed day by working Sunday. Why? The only reason I can figure out is because the founder either assumes everyone shares his Christianity or he's trying to "force" it off on them and thereby prove to his god he's a "good" Christian.
I think these places should have asked their employees if they wanted to work Sunday or better yet, those who wanted that particular Sunday off should have requested it. They may have, I don't know.
Bitching and complaining....
Easter Mass w/ my Mom
Didn't take communion, lip sync the prayers or make any of the assorted hand gestures, but was happy to shake hands with people and say "Peace be with you."
For Easter...
I'm reading "The Jesus Papers" by Michael Baigent, who suggests that Jesus survived the crucifixion, that there were reports of his activities as late as 45 AD, and that Christianity as we know is the biggest hoax in history. This seemed to be the right time to read it.
Of course, Baigent was part of the team that wrote "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," whose theory that Mary Magdalene was Jesus's wife and mother of his child led to that Da Vinci Code silliness, though you can't really blame him for that. It may well be bogus history, but it's fun to read.
Jesus, Mithra and Horus
Sounds good. Thanks for mentioning it. Speaking of bogus history....
There were dozens of historical figures from earlier time periods that the xian Jesus story mimics. An objective historian would be more than suspicious of the Jesus myth compared to the Zorastrian tale of Mithra. Virgin birth, son of god, ressurection, etc all coming from well over a thousand years before the supposed birth of Christ.
Another of my favorites is the ancient Egyptian god Horus. It's interesting to note that Horus predates Jesus by 2000 years. Its uncanny how many similarities Jesus and Horus share. Here is good list of 30-40 traits/characteristics both fairy tales use, if you are interested.
Thats Not Uncanny
The X-Men were uncanny, this is just astrology and plagiarism. Check out Zeitgeist I'd recommend skipping to about 15 minutes in when it starts talking about Horus. It's the most reasonable explanation I've heard for a non-historical Jesus, and explains all the similar stories in other religions. I don't know enough about the subject to say if its true or not, but it makes an interesting case.
As for Easter I met up with the Fam, parents grandparents a few aunts and uncles, including my aunt who used to be a freaking nun who's actually a really chill old lady and a lesbian, and her girlfriend, oh an one cousin. I expected to get dragged to church but it didn't happen this year. It's just an excuse to hang out with the family, which is cool. I like my family.
Jim, I sent an email to you
Jim, I sent an email to you about a kid who came out with his atheism and is being rejected on this very day. What to do ?
An interesting question . . .
littlehorn, since you posted this comment here, I will post my reply:
Anyone have other advice to offer?
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
It's Easter?
n/t
Yesterday
We spent Saturday visiting with friends and doing an egg hunt for the kids.
We ate chocolate bunnies in remembrance of their sacrifice of dying to improve our luck and providing a tasty rabbit stew.
Today I'm just catching up on some work.
Painting the bathroom
I started painting the bathroom. Then I decided to take down the rest of the shelves in the corner as they were poorly installed by a previous homeowner and I didn't want to have to paint them too. (I had taken down the topmost shelf earlier in the week before I started priming.)
Then I decided to take a break and check my RSS feeds.
Then I started writing this comment. Then I decied to take a picture of the bathroom to go with this comment. Then I moved the stepstool and two of the paint cans into the bathroom to make it look like I was doing more work than I actually was. Then I decided to take a screenshot of my RSS reader to go with the post as well. Then I debated whether I should clean up the desktop first or even just take a screenshot of only NetNewsWire but decied to go with it as-is in an attempt to make up for my earlier subterfuge.
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
The same thing I do every
The same thing I do every day...try to take over the world.
nothing
we are doing nothing except watch bad cable and enjoy the sunshine which has peeked out on this chilly march day. and it feels good.
Missed Church
I had actually planned to attend church with The Wife who is an Episcopalian. Their Good Friday and Easter Sunday services are actually quite beautiful and moving if you can just get past all the ridiculous theology and magic-thinking and just enjoy the wonderful music and ceremony. But I have to present at an out of state conference early next week and am instead trying to finish up the presentation itself and get the garden stuff done that has to get done before I leave.
So to answer your question, I’ll spend it working on the computer and in the garden.
easter activites
Just another day at work for me, no bonus, no extra pay, no time off, just like any other day of the week/month/year.
And here's a little treat . . .
. . . which I thought I would share: I've recently been given an audio adaption of my novel, along with permission to pass it along to others. So, as you will notice in my .sig below, I have now added MP3 files of the entire thing (about 16 hours total listening time) to my website for free downloading.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
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