Invisible elephants...

[mousme]

I wonder what it is that makes people in Canada (or maybe North America? Or "white" industrialized nations, or something?) so very coy about discussing religion, especially if their religion is not "mainstream."

ai731 posted about her path in her other blog the other day, and mentioned that one of the problems with trying to suss out one's religious beliefs is that, at least in Canada, we don't talk about that sort of thing. As she put it: "Canadians in general don't talk about their religion much, and I was raised to feel that it's vaguely impolite to ask."

I was raised very much the same way. One simply doesn't speak of these things. It's as though religion is something so very intensely personal that it's kind of like prying into someone's dresser, or their medicine cabinet. It's Just Not Done.

So either one just drifts away from conventional religion (organized Catholic/Christian dogma, for instance) and never really goes anywhere, or else one is left with the sometimes-overwhelming job of having to figure it all out on one's own, reinventing the wheel over and over again.

This post isn't going anywhere, in case you were waiting for my epiphany. I don't actually have a good answer. It's just something that's been nagging at me for a few days.

Comments

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

Americans are NOT coy about religion. It's just you guys. :)

[mousme.livejournal.com]

LOL

Maybe not about mainstream religion...

[swestrup]

Well, there is this entire problem that many non-Christian religious views are discriminated against. Somewhat here in Canada, but often much worse in the US. So, if you're somewhat unorthodox, its often safer to just keep shut.

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, owing to the social circles in which mirandaaskew and I move, she experiences far more disapproval when she asserts her Christianity (Anglican) than occurs with non-mainstream religions such as various forms of neopaganism. I frequently adopt the comparably alienating position of acting as an apoligist for the Roman-Catholic Church (though I don't make any corresponding profession of faith; I do not deny that I am a Roman-Catholic, this being a fact of Canon Law, but I am also fairly confident that it is also a fact of Canon Law that I have been excommunicated lata sententia for formal heresy against magisterial teachings of the Church on matters of sexual morality)

Returning to the original point, in my own case, I am reluctant to declare any particular religious identity, but if pressed will typically default to either "excommunicate Catholic heretic" or "Discordian". That said, I prefer to keep my mouth shut, largely because I'm kinda confused on the matter of my own religious identity (a state of being that seems entirely appropriate for a Discordian, I might add).

[taxlady.livejournal.com]

I miss discussions of religion.

I've been thinking about this post for a couple of days. I remember many, interesting discussions, more about beliefs than formal religion. But, I realized that most of the recent discussions have been with swestrup and that for years before that, they were with my previous husband. There really is some sort of taboo or reluctance. I couldn't even get a decent discussion going at the Unitarian Church (except on rare occasion with the minister, but no other parishioners)!

Back when I was a freak (hippie to you youngsters), there were loads of discussions. People were exploring Buddhism and Hinduism and reading books by Krishnamurti and Alan Watts and discussing all of it.