American Christain Culture.

I have been arguing with people about religion now for over fifteen years. For longer than I can remember. You could say it is a hobby of mine. I argued with my brother, who has always been an atheist, for years and years about Christ. He was kind to me in this because he was always so patient with me. It is quite a gift to have a younger brother who is so wise. I went to several different churches for years debating with the priest, preachers, and what not trying to figure it all out. Unlearning Christianity takes a really long time and a lot of dedicated work, especially if it was really ingrained in one during childhood like it was for me.

I was unfortunate enough to have Baptists on both sides. It was not a good time.

Over the years I have learned to reduce the arguments into different parts so that it is easier to manage with people. It is such a vast subject it cannot ever be debated in its entirety. I typically break it down into three big categories. There is the argument of whether or not there is a god. There is the argument of whether or not Christ existed, including the truth of the story. Then there is the argument of the actual cultural impact of Christianity on us as human beings. After figuring out the truth of god/Christ and religion in general, I started devoting all my time to the culturalization affects of being raised American Christian. I was recently dubbed a Secular Monk by drunken college professors while discussing Krishnamurti and Don Ruiz. Considering my past this was a great honor, to be dubbed so.

To be clear, it does not matter if you believe in god or not. It doesn’t matter if you believe Christ was god or not. If you were raised in America, you were raised as a Christian. From my perspective the big four beliefs that Christianity imposes culturally are Monogamy, Patriarchy, the belief that humans are flawed/lacking, and our beliefs regarding sexuality in general (which is basically all of the above wrapped into one American concept; beliefs about sexuality/gender), the rules if you will.

So…if you are still wondering about things such as, does a god exist, please keep up your journey. It is a long road but worth every step. The only way to gain control of one’s own life is to undo religious dogma. The saying "seek and you shall find" is true whether one is religious or not, this concept has to do with the way the brain works, not some god. You find most things contained in the bible are true regardless of faith or whatever. Do your research into the origins, of not only Christianity, but religion in general and you will be much closer to the truth.

Anyways…like I said earlier…It does not matter if you believe in god or not. It does not matter if you believe in the story of Christ or not. Doesn't matter if you went to church, if you have read the bible, it doesn't matter if you never even said the pledge of allegiance in school. Christianity runs so deep in our American culture it doesn't even matter if you were home schooled, it still impacted your identity.

Why?

Quite simply because it happened to your parents, and to their parents, and to the parents before that. If your genetic heritage comes from Europe it has happened to so many generations in your family it is unknowable how deep it goes. Christianity has impacted our culture for over 2000 years. America was a breakaway from Europe which was completely Christian controlled. Another major reason is simple social dynamics of being human. Regardless of our individual personal belief, those around us, affect us, whether we are conscious of it or not. If you were raised somewhere where the majority of people are a certain way, you will be that way too, at least until you undo it.

It is kind of like how we end up like our parents whether we want to or not, and while we may not always be able to see it in ourselves, it is always very clear to our close loved ones. I can easily see my parents in my brothers, but not so much in myself. The same is true of this cultural indoctrination of Christianity. It is hard to see it in oneself.

Not many question much deeper than who/what is god in terms of Christian indoctrination, in terms of philosophy. I recently argued with two different people about this. They do not think they are Christian, yet they… try to maintain monogamous relationships, they believe men are the better gender (even if they will not admit this out loud, or to themselves, their actions belay their ingrained belief), they believe the world is fucked up because humans are flawed, "it's the best we can do" and they are fully indoctrined about how a man and woman should be. All of these things are equally as false of beliefs as is the belief that god made Adam and Eve. The evidence that we evolved like all other life on the planet is over whelming.

So is the evidence that we are polyamorous. If you stop and pay close attention, if you suspend your opinion and simply observe the evidence is overwhelming. Don’t do what those girls did while arguing with me and cast out the idea simply because it is foreign or because you do not want it to be true. Those girls were not happy when I called them Christian. It is a negative word to them. They don't want it to be true, so it is not! This is classic tenacity.

So is the evidence that men are no better than women. The evidence for this is overwhelming. Yet women are paid less, taken advantage of more, and gender type casted far worse than men.

There is absolutely no evidence that humans are flawed. None whatsoever.

There is absolutely no evidence of a certain way a male should be and a certain way a female should be. Human beings are so complete diverse there is absolutely no way we can all be the same. Personally, I am much more feminine internally than male and all my life people have tried to tell me how to be as a male. Eventually there comes a time when you tell them to fuck off and just simply be who you are. I like being feminine and masculine.

Sit down and think about it. All of these beliefs come directly from Christianity, yet they are imposed on children country wide without any real questioning behind it. It is simply how it is.

Yet, it isn't. The evidence is overwhelming.

Everywhere I go, I find people seeking the ideal of monogamy yet I cannot find anyone who actually adheres to it. I am sure it is possible to find a couple somewhere who has actually held to the ideal, but some anomaly is by no means the rule. I am sure there are rare people who are suited to it, just like there are rare people who can withstand enormous physical pain. They are the exception, not the rule. We have had a religious culture for over 2000 years stuffing "how we should be in our sexual relations" down our throats. Yet, I rarely see anyone actually sit down and access the situation realistically. Hell I can’t even find religious leaders who adhere to it.

If you raise women to be second to men, guess what, they will be. I don’t understand how in this modern age women are not absolutely furious about this treatment. It is proof collectively they are still believing it themselves. In this current society I personally cannot find a fully intact female. I search constantly. I cannot find a woman that was raised to defy gender role. I can’t find a woman that was raised essentially like a boy. Oh, I am sure they exist but they are as rare as rare can be. Women are not second at anything if they are raised to be equal. But unfortunately they are not, because the bible says so, or did you not know that?

There is a difference between being flawed and being ignorant or selfish. The flaw, if you call it that, can only be that a person lacks information necessary for the task at hand. This is even the case with greed; it is simply a lack of information on the greedy person’s behalf. If that person had the needed knowledge of her place in the world she would never be greedy. Is this a flaw? Or just a person in progress? If she had the knowledge and was no longer greedy, would she be flawed? Flawed implies that no matter what you do it is still imperfect. Yet humans can achieve "human" perfection. That is, to be perfectly human. I personally know too many humans who are not flawed at all. This belief is not even close to true. Believing we are all flawed no matter what we do creates a huge amount of apathy and helplessness in the world. This belief alone causes more damage than the others combined.

All of this combines into gender role. The idea of what a man should be in this culture is Christian. That a man should be this and this, it's based on Christian ideals. The exact same thing happens to women. Culturally what a man and woman should be has been determined by Christianity. It was determined before we were born. And sure, these issues may have been the case prior to Christianity, but in terms of our lives here in America; we can solely lay the source of these belief's at the feet of Christianity.

It happens to every single one of us.

You see, true education is two things simultaneously; acquiring knowledge and unlearning tradition.

American Christian culturalization is unavoidable. As children we get no say in this process. But as adults we can undo what was done. We can learn a better way. We have the means and ability to discover truth. We have the ability to teach our children the truth.

Do not take my word for it, go find out for yourself. Seek it and you shall find it.