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“…one nation, UNDER GOD, with liberty and justice for all”

So, my family used to be Catholic, right? Every Sunday it was a huge struggle to wrangle the entire family into their Sunday best and make the march up the street to St. Stephens. Such a struggle, that apparently sometimes my dad wouldn’t even make it! My mom always had some sort of convenient excuse for him, like he had to go pick up lumber at Home Depot, or the dog needed a bath, or he was just finishing up a project for work. Except one day, when I was about 14 the excuses stopped. I think everyone in the family was tired of pretending that we were getting something out of this Sunday ritual by rote. We became un-Catholic. And for the first time, we actually had an honest family discussion about spirituality. Dad included.

What came out of the discussion was some pretty real shit that has stuck with me to this day. You don’t need a church to feel close to god. In fact, you don’t even need to believe in god in the first place. You are an individual. What you want to feel can’t be forced upon you by a well-meaning mother, struggling to get you to church every week. In fact, it can’t be forced upon you by anyone. Not a neighbor. Or a teachher. Or even a political party. I think America is going through this same sort of no-bullshit talk with itself right now. America is sick of pretending that we get something out of this Sunday ritual by rote.

At least it appears to be that way, according to a recent survey by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut:

It is now more socially acceptable than it once was to admit having no religion.

“You’re not declaring yourself a total pariah. The culture has changed in a way that makes it easier to say, ‘No, I don’t have a religion. Even in the past year, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama feel obliged to talk about ‘those of no faith,’ ” [Silk] pointed out. Obama mentioned people without faith in his inaugural address in January, making him the first president to do so.

I have to admit, I did feel like I got a personal little Obama shoutout after that address. And after so many years of being fed the same Christian derived Religious Right bullshit from leaders who refused to even acknowledge the existence of ‘non-believers,’ it feels good to know that I’m among growing numbers.