Is that a word?

Its amazing to me that I live in such a worldly community. Many of us practice yoga and many types of healing arts. Yet I often see people, yes even friends, who become very anti-religious at times. I say that tongue-in-cheek. They are anti-religious when it comes to their various causes. But when it comes to getting presents at Christmas, partying during Mardi Gras (an inherently religious tradition), wearing green during "Saint" Patrick’s Day, giving thanks during Thanksgiving, and playing Easter with bunnies and such, they are all over it. Personally, I don’t celebrate things that I don’t believe in.

When I went to Thailand, it was during a Buddhist holiday called Makha Bucha. For the day, they didn’t serve alcohol, many businesses were closed, and all the State offices were closed including banks. I really wanted to go to a Buddhist temple just to observe the culture of this religion. But I’m not Buddhist. I wouldn’t partake in observances in any real way. Its not that I’m anti-Buddhist. Its just that I believe differently.

What amazes me about antireligiousity is that people can openly decry my beliefs. At the same time, they don’t decry Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, or other beliefs. One exception is Judaism. They tend to bash Judaism at a heart beat. And while most of my fellow believers honor Judaism and other religions, many of those religions bash mine. Its strange how that works.

So my yogi-types decry my religion. Yet in many yoga studios, you’ll see Buddha statues, Ganesha and other dieties, and other religious imagery. Yet if I put a cross in there, a Jewish star, or other symbols of faith, people would freak. Talk about acceptance and tolerance. NOT! Most of these people don’t even know what any of that means. If you truly abided by Buddhist or Hindu beliefs, you’d find restrictions even greater than what the church believes down the street from you. Its a lack of knowledge that baffles me. I would even call it ignorance. If you look at the word "ignore", and then you ignore vehemently, that’s ignorance.

I’ve seen friends on social media say prayers (as in "thoughts and prayers") are meaningless. But in saying so, they are bashing what I believe. When nearly all religions in the world pray. Prayer is something that means something to people who believe. It is communication with the God we believe in. To say that is meaningless says that you don’t acknowledge our beliefs.

And as mystical and hokey as prayer sounds, people believe all the other little superstitions that hover in our every day life. I can’t fathom the number of non-believers I hear say "God Bless You" when somebody sneezes. Its so silly. They believe in crystals and beads and astrology and other metaphysical concepts. But they belittle something like prayer. Its such an amazing hypocrisy.

To me, antireligiosity is a religion unto itself. You have to actively focus and truly believe in anti-religion. You even see signs on billboards and the sides of buses that celebrates and promotes anti-religion. To lack faith in something greater than you and to not have hope in anything other than the physical world is defeating to most of us. In every primitive culture of the world, there is a reference to a God’s eye. We see it on our dollar bill in the USA. Its a part of all of history. Yet that isn’t enough for us to believe. It baffles me to no end.