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

[polychromatic22.livejournal.com]

Here's my beef with st. patrick. He was english. There was more than one irish family that had suitable priests that could have been used (st patrick was not the first catholic to enter ireland) by the archbishop to convert ireland, but, instead, they used an english guy. Once again, they deemed irish people second class citizins only to be saved by their english betters.
In many ways, it wasn't just paganism that was driven out of ireland, but irishness, something the english continued to do up until the later part of the last century.
Proseltysing is one thing, forcing an entire other culture underground is a completely other.

That said, I still wore green today. Got me a green t-shirt that says "Dublin" on it, and wore it like anyone who grew up in a town named Dublin would.

Oh, and one more thing, before you start throwing that human sacrifice bone around, let's remember that christians practiced human sacrifice at one time, also, they just called it witch burnings. All peoples at one time have had human sacrifice, it's a part of dark human nature. We endeavor to do better now, but pointing fingers is silly.