Polytheist minorities and privilege
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Anonymous
Fair enough, you can have that opinion and it can be difficult to gauge someone's tone on the Internet. From my perspective, a question like, "Isn't the point of religious belief that you believe it regardless of what everyone else believes? What "privilege" are you lacking being a polytheist?" is a divisive response itself, instead of a constructive one (because your questions could have been answered by reading the essay, and stating that a privilege exists isn't the same as attacking or demeaning the privileged group - which the essay made abundantly clear, had you read it). |
Anonymous
You have no idea what a troll is. |
Anonymous
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NP here, and I'd say someone threw out the "troll" label a little to easily and someone else got a little too snippy about the use of the term "privilege."
I agree that there's so much discussion of privilege that the term is losing some of its value, but that doesn't mean the concept is invalid - just that it's become a buzzword du jour. Since the article is religiously based, let's look at Christians in America. There is so much Christianity embedded in American media and culture that Christians, for the most part, don't even notice it. There's a constant buzz of Christianity around - billboards (I regularly drive past two that alternate between Christian-themed anti-abortion messages and "There IS a God! Dial 888-FOR-TRUTH" type messages), radio ads (McClean Bible Church's "not a sermon, just a thought" for example), tv ads and programs, movies, sports figures and other celebrities thanking God and discussing how they owe everything to Jesus, etc., etc. Christianity is the dominant religion in this country. I'm not saying that those things shouldn't exist. But our society makes accommodations for the fact that such a significant percentage of our society are Christians of some type - from waiving parking restrictions around churches on Sundays, to scheduling weekend activities (for adults and kids), to school holidays, etc. So when someone mentions "privilege," it's shorthand for saying, "Look, you're so embedded in [x] that you don't realize what it's like for people who are not part of [x]." Those who are not Christian, whether they are atheists, Muslim, Jewish, pagan, Wiccan, Hindu, etc., are constantly bombarded in our society with Christian messages, symbology and assumptions. Since DH and I are white, the assumption most people have when they meet us is that we are probably Christians - simply because the majority of white people in this country are Christians of some flavor. Since DH and I are not Christians, when people make that assumption about us, we are immediately presented with a choice: do we say something or not? Do we make an issue of it or do we just go with the flow and let people assume. Studies have shown that atheists are one of the least trusted groups in America. So when we moved into a new house, and our neighbor came over to introduce herself and skipped right to, "So what church do y'all attend?" we had to make a choice about what to say that Christians don't. That's a small bit of Christian privilege. I have a niece who is severely physically disabled. Until she was born and I got to see first hand what her life is like on a day-to-day basis, I took my being healthy and being able to ignore whether a facility is ADA-compliant for granted. It's a privilege to be able to do that, and that's what people who talk about "privilege" are pointing out. Would it get annoying if my niece constantly talked about my privilege of being physically healthy and able-bodied? Definitely. But her existence, and her struggles, make me appreciate the advantages that I do have, and cause me to "check my privilege." There are elements of privilege in simply being white in America. When minorities ask that whites "check their privilege," they are simply asking whites to consider the advantages they have simply by virtue of being white. Among other things, as many recent incidents have shown, being white means that I can tell my children, "If you have a problem, go to a police officer," and not feel anxious about the potential for that interaction to go badly. Minorities, especially black families, have very different conversations with their children about interacting with the police. That's a difference in privilege. Study after study has shown that there's a bias in hiring towards whites. That's a difference in privilege. Similarly, study after study has shown that there are biases in employment and salaries towards men, and that the workplace is not gender neutral. That's a difference in privilege. When someone notes a particular privilege, it's not an accusation that you somehow got something you don't deserve. It's asking you to look around and step out of your environment to see what advantages you might have that you can't see because your inside them. |
Anonymous
| ^^ And, despite proofreading that, I'm appalled at some of the mistakes that I missed - starting with a "to vs. too" and finishing with a "your vs. you're." Sigh. |
Anonymous
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OP here. To the PP at 21:48, I am almost awed that someone with common sense responded in such an even-handed, sensible, balanced, clear-eyed way.
And thank you for pointing out what you experience as an atheist (I assume you're an atheist from your post). Really I was mostly trying to bring out awareness about polytheism. Pagan religions are not really on the radar and most people would be like, "WTF" if you told them that you worship Loki and Thor, and how it is to see your Gods recast as Marvel heroes/villains, or that you have to go to a museum to pay homage to Sekhmet. Paganism needs more publicity and awareness. |
Gaia
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Hi, DCUM. I'm Wiccan and while I'm not, at least in my own eyes, polytheistic (I believe all parts of the Divine, male and female, are really connected as one), but I'm constantly faced with how monothestic our culture is. Does it personally do me bodily harm? No. Does it point out to everybody else how 'different' and 'edgy' I am? Not really. Do I notice it? Of course.
In God we trust. God bless you. One nation, under God. God bless America. God damn it. These are so widely accepted in our society that nobody cares if it's a Catholic or an atheist saying it. But if I were to say "Goddess bless America" or "Gods be damned" when I stub my toe, that would not go over well. I don't mind a lack of physical space to practice my religion, as I have always been very solitary. I'd rather be alone in a forest surrounded by the nature that we're all connected to than be inside surrounded by things that were made by man. |
Anonymous
I have to admit that I hadn't really thought about the idea of going to a museum or constantly reading about your religion in the past tense. The kids are young and asking questions about religion, and we read a lot of mythology, so as an atheist I use the various pagan religions in the present tense when I talk about how, "Some people believe [x], some people believe [y], people who believe in the Norse gods believe [z], people who believe in the Greek gods believe [w]," etc. From my perspective, it's easier to do comparative religion with the kids when there are some people who actively believe in each one. |