Last week, the Christian world celebrated Good Friday and Easter.

I remember, growing up, learning about Good Friday and being rather annoyed at the name.  I mean, who calls a day celebrating torture "good"? I was in second or third grade, living in Ohio, and finally getting what Easter was supposed to represent.  I didn't like the name "Good Friday"  and I didn't think that the date for Easter should depend on the lunar cycle in relation to the spring equinox.

(Yes, I was that kind of kid.)

We attended a Grace Lutheran church, and I attended the "grown-up" services on Sunday, as opposed to the children's services.  I heard the sermons on why God doesn't answer prayers, what every holiday means, and how to be a good little sheeple.  But I vividly remember almost crying at how badly everyone treated Jesus, at the torture and pain he suffered, and at the loneliness of his death.  How bad he must have felt, being abandoned by everyone just because he was different?

I wonder, now, at the psychology behind these sermons.  Do the preachers try to invoke sympathy from people at Jesus' plight, using the emotion to cloud the illogic behind everything?  I want to believe no, but I also know how much time and effort over the centuries that the church put into crafting their words to get the greatest effect.

In all the current controversies about homosexuality, I find it ironic that in a country where "separation of church and state" is one of its basic tenets, people use the Bible and religion to discriminate against an entire section of society, most not even pretending to find non-religious reasons for their hate.

Especially because God could be gay, or at least not as manly as people want to believe.

Think about it.  He impregnates a woman from afar, because he wouldn't want to touch her.  Ewww!  Then, he sends someone else to tell her the news, because he wants to avoid the Drama.

But I think it begins before then.  Look at the story of Job.  What does God do to punish Job?  He takes away his hair.  First, God noticed his hair???  How many guys do you know that notice other men's hair?  And then he thinks, "Wow!  I know what will hurt him the most.  I'll take away his hair!"

Hmm.......

I have a confession to make - I don't believe in pink unicorns.  Or purple unicorns, or green unicorns, or, well... I just don't believe in unicorns.  Period.

I also don't believe in trolls, ogres, orcs, goblins, fairies, fae, dragons, mermaids, mermen, and gods.  Not the Norse gods, not the Egyptian gods, not the Greek gods, and definitely not the Roman gods.  Especially not the Roman god who became the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim God.

Most people don't know this about me, because I don't talk about religion or faith often.  So in a way, I'm also a closet atheist.  But I don't really like the term "atheist"  since that word is an insult created by theists.  The prefix "a-" means "against", and I'm not certain that I'm against theism, or at least certain types of theism.

According to Merriam-Webster, theism is "the belief in the existence of a god or gods,...".  I completely support the belief in fun gods, like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.  As far as little kids go, believing in imaginary friends and gods helps make life more fun and interesting.  And as a parent, I like to play imaginary games with my kids, so these imaginary gods worked well.

But I don't like playing imaginary games where my kids are told that they are born evil, flawed, and must spend their lives trying to make up for this flaw.  I am against any god that says this, and that is why most Christians would call me an atheist.

Sigh.

You are probably wondering why I'm babbling on like this. I want to talk to people about how a nice girl raised in several Protestant churches became a closet atheist and not-so-closet a-pink unicornist.   I want to help other atheist and a-pink unicornist come out of  the closet, too, and have a place where they can feel comfortable.

And I want to say:
"Greetings, Fellow Earthlings!  We only have a relatively short time on our planet, and then we're gone.  So let's make the best of it.
Signed,
A-Pink Unicornist"