Last night, on my walk home from the pub, my pleasant conversation with my partner was suddenly interrupted by the loud proclamations of a man with a microphone.
It was after 11pm a night, so I was drunk, and he was loud an in my ears. I couldn’t avoid him. A route around where he stood and shouted his beliefs would have cost me longer than I needed. All I wanted was to get, home, put my head down, and go to sleep.
But no. This man wanted me to hear what he believed in, whether I wanted to hear it or not. Noise pollution. Brain pollution.
It annoyed me, so I swore. What a load of bollocks, I said. He heard me. He didn’t like me defying him. So he said something else, I can’t remember what. I swore again, telling him where to go. And this was his reaction, broadcast to a street in town, via a microphone and a loudspeaker, at gone 11pm at night.
“There goes a man of hate”
That was it! I was angry. I’d had a few drinks and all I wanted was to get home and go to sleep. Instead, what I got was a preacher man, telling me what to think, and then telling others what to think about me.
OK, so maybe I shouldn’t have sworn at him. But then maybe he shouldn’t be standing in the street before midnight, not just sharing, but forcing his point of view upon passing folk. Maybe he shouldn’t be accusing those he does not know of being fundamentally “full of hate”. What a bigoted and uneducated/uninformed thing to say.
It’s this whole attitude that what he believes is so important that he has to shout it out through a loudspeaker to drunk passers by that is so unsavoury. Of course, me swearing back at him can be seen as unacceptable too, but he started it.
I turned around with the thought ”Right, that’s it, I’m not putting up with this!”
A Man of Hate
To be labelled so was infuriating. Yes, I’d sworn at him, twice, but my peaceful walk home was interrupted by a man telling me what I should believe. I know what to believe – there’s only one way of life, and that’s your own (Your own, your own!)
I turned and stormed back towards him. I wasn’t having this.
I confronted this Christian, this “man of god” and immediately he looked petrified. He was younger than me, he held the microphone close to his chest. Anything he said was amplified, anything I said, didn’t get a boost. Telling, right? Or not.
I asked him why he thought his belief system was superior to mine and why he had to impose his thoughts on passing revellers so late at night. His response was something about the father and son being water and ice, or something like that. How strange.
He asked me about my beliefs, and I said I had “none” – my “religion” was fluid and, as an example, I’d spent a proportion of my night before with the Hari Krishna folk at Stonehenge, it had been the summer solstice.
Ultimately, I said it was all down to freedom and that he should not impose his belief system upon others because, walking home, I was not imposing mine on every Tom, Dick, and Harry passing by.
Another Christian intervened after a few minutes and said I was “free to go”. I should damn well hope so too! Of course I’m free to go. I should have been free to walk home without religious propaganda being forced into my ears as I was mid conversation with someone. That’s just rude.
So I did eventually give up on discussing freedom with this indoctrinated young man and make my way home.
Human Rights
On the way I did discuss with my walking partner how appalling it was that religion is forced upon the young. Some children, for instance, are subject to genital mutilation because that’s “just part of their religion”. Yet Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been illegal in the United Kingdom since 1985 and is an important health and human rights issue. Human rights! Right? Double standards too. A young male has no choice,
Yet here we are with a religious man being allowed to shout his beliefs at passers by in an English town at a time of night where he will surely be disturbing the peace? He disturbed mine anyway.
I have a right not to have my peace disturbed.
I have the right not to be forced to listen to someone else’s “commands”.
I am lucky that I was not forced to have my genitals mutilated on religious grounds before I was old enough to grant consent.
They have their freedom, where’s ours?
The rights of the religious seem to be above those of the irreligious. But then we have been ruled by them for many hundreds of years. “England’s a Christian country” they say. Who’s they? The religious? The racists? Those who are against Islam?
Let me ask them this; how long has this been a Christian country? What was it before that? And how long was it NOT a Christian country before it became a Christian country?
The answer is that the British Isles have been Christian for as many as 1,600 years. Prior to that, this island nation’s civilisation enjoyed at least 10,000 years of being non-Christian.
So, the “dominant” religion has told us what to do for a mere 10% if not far less of this land’s human history. If you really look back at human belief systems, the recent dominance is an even tinier proportion.
A Man of Love
Having spent the summer solstice at Stonehenge with my child, in the company of celebrating Hari Krishna, and mingling with random people of beliefs I do not know, I think the “there goes a man of hate” label was just that – a target on my back, placed by an indoctrinated religious bigot, who disliked being challenged, and would rather I was known as “the bad guy” thus taking the heat off him.
I’d say he was the man of intolerance, having a predisposed intolerance before my own reactionary rejection of his views. Yes, I was intolerant too, and yes, I was drunk, but the song remains the same – He is allowed to spout his views publicly, via microphone and loudspeaker, to all and sundry who pass by, whether they want to hear it or not, whether it is relevant, loving, kind, or not…
I’d spent a night, in fact, a whole life, not imposing my view upon others, when I was accused of reacting negatively to those who would do the same they accused me of themselves. Hypocrites.
Ironically, those who “attempt to poison and destroy my brothers” are more likely Christian than non-Christian. Funny that, aye?