I learned a long time ago that you honestly cannot win an argument with a religious person, but no matter how much I believe in that I'm still surprised at how clueless the aggressively religious seem to be.
Today in a class discussion on Gay Marriage, being an advocate I had to speak up. I mentioned how I honestly don't believe the government has the right to tell me who I can and cannot married based on my sexual orientation. When trying to express my opinion in class, I kept getting cut off by my professor who is very religious. I noticed her stance on religion at the start of class (January 2010), and I have made it a point to not mention religion since I tend to have different (negative) views when it comes to religion.
Well today, I mentioned the separation between Church and State, and mentioned how majority of the laws in America and the overall moral ideology is based off of religious views and it's not right since not everyone in America practices Christianity. Well that's what I tried to say, but the woman wouldn't let me get it out. She kept cutting me off to the point that I just shut up and let her talk. I wanted her to talk till she was blue in the face. Then she said something that made her stop sounding like one of the teachers in the Peanuts cartoon. She uttered, "I believe that marriage should not be for same sex couples because it should be between a man and a woman, which is the traditional way." I kept a close ear because I knew it was coming. I laughed at the anticipation of it, and straightened my clothes for its idiotic return. She said, “It’s my own personal opinion, but it is written in the Bible and God wrote the Bible. Those are his words, so it's true." At the moment those words left her mouth the entire class erupted. I was glad to see that I wasn't alone in thinking that this woman was an idiot and I laughed a laugh that I could only laugh at that moment.
The entire moaned and grunted in aggravation. She then proceeded to tell us that none of us knew what we were talking about because none of us were Bible experts. She said, “The Bible is the same Bible that has been around for years and nothing has changed except for the different interpretations of the words. Those words are the same words that have been around since the beginning of time and haven’t changed.”
Another eruption.
There were two guys to the left of me (one alone at a table and the other alone by a window), a woman on the left of me sitting at my desk/table, and a woman sitting in front of me. We all raised our hands at the same time, but the guy by the window said, “do you really believe that?” The guy behind me said nothing and looked confused, and the woman in front of me shook her head and laughed. The woman sitting next to me at the desk/table raised her hands and said, “Okay!” and put her head down on the desk/table.
I kept my hand raised, laughed, and heard the woman in front of me whisper, “Historians have proven that as false.”
Then I said, “Yes that’s exactly what I was going to say. History-” I was cut off.
“None of you are professional theologists so you can’t possible tell me that I’m wrong.” And that is when I said, “And neither are you!”
And that is when she got really angry, pointed her finger at me, and said, “Little girl! Let me finish!”
I have never been one to respond well to shouting so I said, “How can you tell me to let you finish when you have cut me off since I started talking?” My question had no response. She said something, but it wasn’t the answer I was seeking so she went ignored. I continued to laugh at her, because she was right and I wasn’t a theologist.
I have noticed when people with some kind of mediocre authority realize that they are dead wrong, they tend to get what little power they have and try to belittle the people they control. She had lost control and the only thing left to do was teach the class. Well, since she couldn’t do that anymore, she told us to be quiet (because we’re 12, LOL!) and read chapter 9 of our books. I didn’t do either, but that was fine since it’s not like we are going to have a test on chapter 9 anyway. The dumb bitch doesn’t even review the chapters, and we don’t have class discussions about them. Majority of our class time is watching youtube videos.
We had about 20 mins left in class, and I wrote this blog post down in my notebook with a shaky hand. I haven’t revealed this before, but when I’m in an intense situation and I’m, trying to keep my composure, I shake. I shake so much that sometimes I start to cry. Today I wasn’t on the verge of tears, because I refused to let that woman see me crack under the pressure my body was putting me under. My brain was yelling at me to go off on that bitch! But my heart told me not to, and when in doubt follow your gut. LOL! Because at that moment it was empty and told me to shut up because going off on her would only make me pass out.
Class ended, and I walked to the head of the dept. to discuss his employee, but he was on the phone. I walked around with two classmates and we discussed the event that had just taken place, when it (the professor...) walked around the corner giving us the stink eye. I wanted to yell something so bad, but my gut said shhhhhhhh! But whatever, I wasn’t going to yell out a profanity or an insult. So I said, as loud as I possibly could, “Man wrote the Bible!” right before I turned the corner.
I know what I did was immature, but it needed to be said. Maybe she didn’t know the creation of the Bible was at the hands of man and not in a spirit that lives in a cloud. Or above them? Hell! I was trying to help her out...But I don’t know I’m not a theologist. I’m a little girl. A little girl that went to Catholic School, grew up in a religious household, and went to church every Sunday. I couldn’t possibly know the Bible. Of course not, I’m just a little girl.
