So . . . it's that busiest travel weekend of the year for our American friends, Thanksgiving weekend. One of the most popular holidays, and it's not only because of the extended long weekend and Black Friday deals. Many people get fulfillment from the act of giving thanks, of taking a moment to acknowledge that we are lucky to have what we do and that it may not all our own doing. But who should we thank? The answer (at least one version of it) after the jump.
Depending on which poll you believe, between 70% and 85% of Americans will be thanking Jesus this weekend as they stuff themselves with stuffing. As for the other 15-30% that comprise the heathen population, well, they'll be thanking Allah or Adonai or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Or maybe no one. Atheism and Agnosicism is on the (constant) rise in North America, as more and more people come to their own realization that maybe conventional deistic belief isn't for them. And no, this post isn't about the benefits or drawbacks of a theism or atheism. It's actually about atheistic religion.
(And no, it's not about the "church of Atheism" as some call it, where atheists are as militant as their religious foes, which is fraught with it's own problems).
I was recently directed to a disturbing video clip (do not watch if you have common sense and value the making of good arguments in a debate, it will cause nausea and headaches) of scientist Richard Dawkins on demagogue Bill O'Reilly's show (look to about 2:23 in the video for the part I'll reference; also, the clip they reference in that one is here). The intriguing question that Dawkins asks is whether we need a god to have a moral compass. Or, put another way, why is the issue of morality "muddied up" with that of belief in a higher power. We can follow the words of a "prophet" without needing to believe they were sent by god; the Blues Brothers still would have performed their concert even if they didn't tell everyone they were on a mission from god.
For many religion in its practice is atheistic. One can follow the rituals of Christianity or Judaism without actually acknowledging or considering God; just celebrate Christmas/Easter or Chanukah/Passover and not let god enter into it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that a belief in god is right or wrong, just that it is not necessarily important to following either a moral or a religious life.
Getting back to Thanksgiving, it is my understanding (and I may be incorrect, as I am not American and never celebrated the holiday in November) that its origins were in the pilgrims being thankful for surviving their first year in the new world. In particulary, they were thankful to those friendly Native Americans who helped them make it through (though this seems inconsistant with the genocidal generations to come). Not thankful to god alone (though they probably were, as they had fled Europe because their homeland wasn't Jesus-loving enough), they may have recognized earthly help as well.
Given my own belief in randomness and variability, I would just thank luck or randomness for my comfort in life. Though my present situation is easy to attribute to decisions I have made, the fact that those decisions a) were available to me and b) worked out more or less as planned is not through my own choices or actions, but rather the context and circumstance in which I find myself. A god is not necessary for me to acknowledge that other (not necessarily higher) powers were at work. And I am not thankful in order to avoid the vengeance of an angry god or to supplicate to god in hopes of favorable treatment in this life or the next (if there is such a thing) but rather in humility and modesty (those are words that I find people use to describe me - yeah, right) in the knowledge that I alone do not control my destiny.
So be thankful today, in your own fashion. Thank god if you want to, but feel free to thank someone or something else, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment