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Sunday, April 7, 2013

The Problem With Proselytizing



On any given day in the week, a knock on your door could be made by someone wanting to share the "good news" with you.  And by my count, there are at least three sects of this belief who are willing to interrupt your day.  Contrary to popular belief, there is no war on this religion or any of its sects.  That was a statement made by a few of its adherents; maybe this religion can no longer get what it wants when it wants it.  Times do change.  Now, if you tell these good meaning people to piss off , they win; you made them martyrs for their god and cause.  If they manage to get inside your home, they win; they have shared the "good news" with you, if only by leaving a pamphlet on your coffee table.  We all have the right to practice any form of religion, or none, and be happy doing so.  One of the practices of Christianity (like you really needed me to tell you that this was about the door knockers and bell ringers) is to tell the world about "their good news."  And to these good meaning folks, a sign on your front door that reads, NO SOLICITATION means absolutely nothing.  They believe that they are not trying to sell you anything.  The "good news" is free to all who want it.  Yeah, right.  They do not get that far in the Ungerlands.  The king and queen of the realm will have none of that.

Today, the word 'racism' is bandied about more than a futbol during the World Cup.  In most cases, the word and its current meaning are used incorrectly.  It usually is given to a person by the Politically Correct Elite Police to shut that person's mouth.  As a man of Austrian/German descent, I enjoy my cultural heritage.  After all, it is mine and I have a right to enjoy it, just as people from other cultures have a right to enjoy theirs, and I sure as hell have no intentions of stopping them.  Enjoying bratwurst and swilling beer while knowing the details of Teutoburger Wald and other facts of my culture does not make me a racist, or for that matter, 'superior' to anyone or anything else.  I also know many facts and various details of other cultures; the love of history breaths deeply within me.  Historical fact and the interest in one's own culture does not make a person a racist.  But it appears to me that there are those who "spread the good news" who seem to have a problem with 'culture.'

More than one Saturday or Sunday breakfast in the Ungerlands has been interrupted by the proselytizers of the "good news."  In the past, when we opened the door in response to their knock, we were not what they expected; we are of the lighter skinned variety of human.  As they walked away, they muttered something about sending someone else to see us; it had nothing to do with language, their English was just peachy.  The very next day, as sure as fireworks on the 4th of July, white folks showed up to talk to us about the "good news."  I make no apologies for giving any of these folks the boot.  We do the same when somebody comes to our door wanting to sell us snail oil as a cure-all.  But, because the replacements were so damned obnoxious, they were given the steel-toed boot.  This has happened twice.  Here is one point:  when I sing the praises of bratwurst, I open myself up to be labeled a racist, while the proselytizers of the "good news," who are not of the same culture as my wife and I, will not try to sell us on the "good news" because we are not of the same culture.  They send in white replacements.  Were we offended?  Are we offended?  Do bears shit in the woods?  Do wolves eat meat?  Do whales swim in the ocean?  In today's common verbiage and contextual meaning, it is hard to think that the behavior of those proselytizers is NOT racist.

Now let me be very frank.  If you are purple and have three tits and come to our door trying to sell us on your religion, you will get the boot.  Well, if you are that way, we will take a picture of you first to post on Facebook.  Then comes the boot.  That brings up another point.

These proselytizers are trying to sell their sect's version of Christianity; it is something that their religion tells them to do.  But Christianity as a whole, never was a religion of inclusion; it always was and still is an exclusive club.  And, Christianity's history has much to say about its previous methods of proselytizing:  the ethnic cleansing, at sword point, of pagans and heathens throughout Europe, the Crusades, the Inquisition with its Witch Trial sub-set, and the outright murder of indigenous populations in North and South America.  All of this was done to spread the "good news" of the White Christ.  And people who bathed on a regular basis and who were well groomed, were forced to accept a false religion that preached that the body was evil and bathing and grooming was a vain act in the eyes of  the White Christ.  Those people were known as Heathens.

Today, Real Heathenry  is making a resurgence.  Take note, I said Real Heathenry.  While it is true that the present struggles to understand the past, rest assured that Real Heathenry has nothing to do with, playing dress-up, like in a Renaissance Faire, Dungeons and Dragons, flogging, or any form of slavery (even in a make believe sense).  Real Heathenry is about personal empowerment and freedom.  It is about becoming industrious and self-reliant, in our time.  I have been told that there are many pretenders who claim the title Heathen as their very own.  And, some of those have used their charisma for personal gain, but they have fallen from their self-made pedestal.  Real Heathens want to study the old principals that guided their ancestors, and apply them to their lives in the modern world; they will make the needed adaptations.  There is no need to fear that a Heathen will come knocking on your door; it just does not happen.  You either have it or you don't.  Maybe one day you will.  The problem with proselytizing?  In today's world it's just plan rude.

                                                         

                                                 Copyright @2013 Terry Unger
           







     

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