I was hit smack in the face with religious privilege yesterday…I was hoping you’d post something about religion, so I could vent.
I was at a work meeting, and the topic turned to the new boss – a man only one of the four of us had met yet. (He just started Monday). My friend who had met him was very positive, saying he is nice, and he is calm (in our current work setting, I don’t know if calm is the best setting, but it will be a nice change). Then she said “That is because he is a religion major.” I kind of had this WTF face on, and I said, “Now, wait, those things don’t necessarily go together”. She proceeds to give me a lesson in logic (but not correct for this situation – she was using the logic of a mathematical equation, and humans are not mathematical equations). Then she says that, “Yes, there are many people who are religious and not calm, but he [new boss] gets it”. When I tried to say something else, she simply announces “It isn’t appropriate to talk about religion. This conversation is over now. I said it is over, so that is that.”
So religion gets you the privilege of starting a conversation by announcing a fact about religion without any evidence, and then basically accusing the person who thinks there needs to be evidence behind such an assertion of starting a conversation about religion, and saying “Nope. No way.”
Can you imagine the response if I had said “Mr. X is a great guy, nice, and trustworthy. That’s because he doesn’t believe in God”? The response would be immediate, harsh, and loud. And if I tried to say, “No, it’s not appropriate to talk about religion. I said it’s over, so it’s over”, I would probably be screamed at and told how ignorant, stupid, and in violation of the Constitution I was (never mind that, since I have no lawmaking powers, I am not able to violate the first amendment – I don’t have that power – most people think anyone saying ‘would you just shut up already?’ has violated their freedom of speech). I might even find myself reprimanded by the authorities for causing some sort of riot on the job.
Iknklast, back when George W was President (kinder simpler days), I met an American woman who had recently moved to NZ to marry a kiwi bloke. She started talking about whatever GWB was up to at that moment in a ‘isn’t this great’ kind of way. When I started to question whether it was in fact great I go the exact response you describe “This conversation is now over. I can’t talk about this now.” FFS. She started the conversation. I’ve no idea whether she was religious. We never talked again. Luckily I also thought her husband was an arsehole, slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, so no loss.
I was hit smack in the face with religious privilege yesterday…I was hoping you’d post something about religion, so I could vent.
I was at a work meeting, and the topic turned to the new boss – a man only one of the four of us had met yet. (He just started Monday). My friend who had met him was very positive, saying he is nice, and he is calm (in our current work setting, I don’t know if calm is the best setting, but it will be a nice change). Then she said “That is because he is a religion major.” I kind of had this WTF face on, and I said, “Now, wait, those things don’t necessarily go together”. She proceeds to give me a lesson in logic (but not correct for this situation – she was using the logic of a mathematical equation, and humans are not mathematical equations). Then she says that, “Yes, there are many people who are religious and not calm, but he [new boss] gets it”. When I tried to say something else, she simply announces “It isn’t appropriate to talk about religion. This conversation is over now. I said it is over, so that is that.”
So religion gets you the privilege of starting a conversation by announcing a fact about religion without any evidence, and then basically accusing the person who thinks there needs to be evidence behind such an assertion of starting a conversation about religion, and saying “Nope. No way.”
Can you imagine the response if I had said “Mr. X is a great guy, nice, and trustworthy. That’s because he doesn’t believe in God”? The response would be immediate, harsh, and loud. And if I tried to say, “No, it’s not appropriate to talk about religion. I said it’s over, so it’s over”, I would probably be screamed at and told how ignorant, stupid, and in violation of the Constitution I was (never mind that, since I have no lawmaking powers, I am not able to violate the first amendment – I don’t have that power – most people think anyone saying ‘would you just shut up already?’ has violated their freedom of speech). I might even find myself reprimanded by the authorities for causing some sort of riot on the job.
Religious privilege. Must be nice.
Iknklast, back when George W was President (kinder simpler days), I met an American woman who had recently moved to NZ to marry a kiwi bloke. She started talking about whatever GWB was up to at that moment in a ‘isn’t this great’ kind of way. When I started to question whether it was in fact great I go the exact response you describe “This conversation is now over. I can’t talk about this now.” FFS. She started the conversation. I’ve no idea whether she was religious. We never talked again. Luckily I also thought her husband was an arsehole, slightly to the right of Attila the Hun, so no loss.