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The "Are atheists rebellious?" thread got me to thinking a little. (which is not easy so early in the morning) This concept of rebellion is kind of b.s. It boils down to not being in agreement with whoever is in charge. So what? So an atheist doesn't agree with every word written in a silly old book and they are automatically rebellious?! Bull. I don't always agree with my government....does that make me rebellious? For example: I would never give in to forced mass vaccines. That would technically make me rebellious right? I don't think so!
What about children being called rebellious? Of course they need rules to follow for their own safety, but when it comes to forcing our opinions on them....well that's a different story. I'm thinking of my own kids. They HATED going to church. They HATED following the UPC crazy "standards" of holiness. My daughter was resentful of us for years for making her wear skirts to school. Of course she was considered rebellious just for not agreeing with us. Ridiculous! I did start letting her pants and I was all of the sudden the rebellious one! Just for not OBEYING my church leadership. Well so be it! People should be allowed to have their own opinions. Children should be able to express themselves without be ridiculed and being called rebellious. I'd say that the whole Christian notion of what rebellion is is wrong.
There is an enormous freedom in rejecting the religions, but I have never seen that freedom as rebellious. I have seen the need to be more active in supporting non religious groups. I think the Bush years were the catalyst for many non-religious to wake up and take a stand. The religious right added a need to protect our freedoms and I became active in several groups to protect what basic freedoms we have. That is not rebellious, it is survival.
The "Are atheists rebellious?" thread got me to thinking a little. (which is not easy so early in the morning) This concept of rebellion is kind of b.s. It boils down to not being in agreement with whoever is in charge. So what? So an atheist doesn't agree with every word written in a silly old book and they are automatically rebellious?! Bull. I don't always agree with my government....does that make me rebellious? For example: I would never give in to forced mass vaccines. That would technically make me rebellious right? I don't think so!
What about children being called rebellious? Of course they need rules to follow for their own safety, but when it comes to forcing our opinions on them....well that's a different story. I'm thinking of my own kids. They HATED going to church. They HATED following the UPC crazy "standards" of holiness. My daughter was resentful of us for years for making her wear skirts to school. Of course she was considered rebellious just for not agreeing with us. Ridiculous! I did start letting her pants and I was all of the sudden the rebellious one! Just for not OBEYING my church leadership. Well so be it! People should be allowed to have their own opinions. Children should be able to express themselves without be ridiculed and being called rebellious. I'd say that the whole Christian notion of what rebellion is is wrong.
People who forward the "rebellious" garbage forget that Christianity has never been a majority religion globally.
Christianity itself could be seen to contain elements of rebellion or at least non-conformity. If a person really sold all their possessions and started traveling around helping distressed people this would be seen as a fairly countercultural or oddball at least. However that's what many early Christians did. That's what Francis of Assisi did to some extent.
Although I have something of a "conservative temperament" I think there's good kinds of rebellion as well as bad kinds of rebellion. Rebelling against an injustice or for a truly virtuous cause can be good. Rebelling purely for your own ego or pleasure or in a way that causes violence to innocent people is generally not good.
I think many atheists who deem themselves "rebels", not that all or most do so, likely do feel it's in the cause of something just and ethical. I may not agree, but I'm willing to believe that they believe what they are saying.
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