This is going to make me some enemies, but I'm too cranky to care.

[kellinator]

Dear Everyone Who's Whining About What a Terrible Man St. Patrick Was and How Pagans Are So Oppressed,

I was looking forward to an evening of St. Patrick's Day fun with friends, so forgive me for being a little bit cranky about all the vitriol being launched on here today.

Are we Christians supposed to spend the day apologizing for St. Patrick converting Ireland fifteen hundred years ago? I'm no expert in Druidic practices, but how do we really know that the Druids were happy-love-everybody people and St. Patrick was a jerk determined to make sure no one was having a good time? It's not as simple as pagans good/Patrick bad (nor, I suppose, as simple as Patrick good/pagans bad). Imagine you're the person who got picked for the human sacrifice and see if you still think so.

Christianity is not all about hate and oppression, no matter what Jerry Falwell tells you. It's got some good ideas about kindness to one's fellow man. Many terrible sins have been committed in the name of Christ, but much good has been done too.

A lot of people out there seem to demand toleration for everyone but Christians. I almost didn't make this post because I knew it would piss people off, but that would be denying what I feel and what I believe. If it's okay for you to express your faith, then it's okay for me to express mine. I may be a lousy excuse for a Christian, but I still am one. If you want religious toleration, I think that's terrific, but you ought to have some for the Christians too. We progressive Christians have got enough to worry about with retaking our faith from the Pharisees currently in charge without having to constantly apologize for being Christian.

And I'm fucking terrified of snakes, so St. Patrick, you're okay in my book.

Comments

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Hey, my personal celebration of St. Patrick's Day involves lots and lots of booze for everyone! :D

[jerel.livejournal.com]

Hear hear. The holiday has become less about what St. Patrick did and more about Irish identity. I see it as a chance to celebrate what's great about the Irish: they never gave up. Even when they knew it was pointless, they never stopped trying to gain their independence. They had their language taken away, they were killed in large numbers by other "Christians" (cf. Cromwell's slaughter of 6,000 Catholics), they were starved (even at the height of the Great Famine, England was still taking Ireland's wheat crop), they've been scattered all over the world. And they've never given up.

So, the Irish have always been a "conquered" people. Even looking at the mythological history (Firbolgs, Fomorians, Tuatha de Danaan, Milesians), it's all about being conquered. Then there were the Vikings, and the English. It never ended. Now they're free, so let's f*&%ing party!!