Ooooh, You Waskily Wabbit

For the past two mornings, there's been a person standing at an intersection in the city where I work, dressed in a rabbit outfit, holding a sign that reads "It's not about the bunny" and the "t" in about is elongated to look like a cross.

I told my husband I'd love to dress up like Jesus and stand on the opposing corner, holding a sign that reads "It's been about the bunny longer than it's been about the Christ."

The very name of the Christian celebration - Easter - comes from the Saxon goddess of Spring, Eostre. The date of the Christian celebration falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. In 200 BC, there was a fellow named Attis who was consort of the Phrygian goddess Cybele. Attis was born of a virgin, died, and was reborn annually. There was a festival celebrating Attis which began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection. Hello??? Sound familiar?

And how can an "historical fact" be a movable feast, anyway? The events of September 11 happened on...wait for it...September 11. We don't commemorate 9/11 on the first Monday after the full moon before the Vernal Equinox - we commemorate it on 9/11 because that's when it actually happened. How (with a straight face) can the Christians fervently preach the truth of the Easter events (crucifixion/resurrection) when the date changes from year to year?

Quite honestly, I don't care what someone worships. You can venerate blue teddy bears, and it's no skin off my stiff upper lip. On the sixth day, Kenner created Care Bears, and it was good. [That's another thing that bugs me about Christianity. It took God six days to create the planet and the heavens and everything else? He's, like, God! Shouldn't He be able to snap His fingers and just have stuff appear? What the hell?]

Back to my point...I don't care about the gist of someone's faith. Purple dragons, a god with the head of an elephant, shoestring potatoes - whatever floats your particular boat is fine with me. I DO take issue, however, when you try to tell me that your faith is Real, the Truth, the Only Way to Salvation and Fabulous Door Prizes - and my faith is Phony, the Falsehood, the One Way Trip on the Roller Coaster to Damnation.

I don't care what stripe you are - Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan. Intolerance is intolerance, no matter which way you slice it. I have my largest issue with Christianity [the religion as a whole, not individual people - some of whom are quite tolerant of others] because of its inherent arrogance. On Good Friday, pious and righteous Catholics pray for the Pope, world leaders, the Jews, the clergy...as well as people who don't believe in Christ and people who don't believe in God. They pray that these people who don't yet know God will see the light and find their way to salvation. These poor, lost souls who are fumbling around in the dark, totally bereft, following the wrong path, lambs in need of a shepherd. Tsk, tsk. What a shame that they're so foolish. Why don't they listen to us because we know the Right Way?

This is what infuriates me about this particular religion. If Christianity as a whole would just mind its own damned business and stop looking down its collective nose at every other religion, I'd be totally fine with it. I still couldn't be paid to believe in it, but it wouldn't rankle me like it does right now. I understand that part of the problem is that the Bible commands its followers to convert the heathens, so they're only being good little soldiers by trying to increase their ranks through whatever means necessary (shame, browbeating, guilt, fear). Even so, I still have an issue with the "We're right and everyone else is wrong" attitude.

So when I see that person standing on the street corner, dressed as a rabbit and extolling the (misguided/arrogant) notion that Christianity is first and best, it makes me stop and think. Mainly it makes me stop and think, "Where's Elmer Fudd when you need him?"

Idiosyncrasies

As I've been tagged by my husband, here's my list of idiosyncrasies...

1. If a drawer or cabinet door is ajar, I have to close it.

2. I always put on my right sock first, then my left sock. If for some reason I do it backwards, it feels weird.

3. When I traveled more, I would quadruple check that my plane or train ticket was in my purse. I'm not sure where I expected it to GO, after making sure it was there the first time, but I would continue to check multiple times. I have the same OCD trait when it comes to checking other things multiple times.

4. If someone has a new magazine and s/he hasn't looked at it yet, I don't want to look at it until its "owner" has read it first.

5. I refuse to touch an already-opened jar of mayonnaise, on the off-chance there's some on the outside of the container and it gets on me. I will grudgingly touch an unopened jar.

6. I usually have at least three books in rotation. It's rare that I focus on reading one particular book, although it does happen.

7. I sort my email so the newest email is at the bottom of the list/page, rather than at the top.

8. I won't walk under ladders and I try to avoid stepping on cracks.

9. I won't cut my toenails if it's evening. [My grandmother - I think it was her - told me that someone will die if you cut your toenails in the evening. I know that's insane...but better safe than sorry.]

10. When I'm watching TV or listening to the radio and someone uses improper grammar, I correct him/her out loud.