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No Holy Books Were Burned During This Celebration

Posted on September 13th, 2010 by Staks

Over the weekend, I had a barbecue to celebrate 9/11 (which just so happens to be my Birthday). Even though many people jokingly inquired about burning some holy books, no holy books were burnt during this celebration.

I did want to take a moment to thank all the people on facebook and twitter who sent me birthday wishes. While it seems like a small and insignificant thing, it really does mean a lot to me.

One of the great things about my barbecues is that I usually have a good mix of people from various religions and religious intensities. This generally makes for some really great conversation and this year was no exception.

Obviously I tend to have a lot of friends who are atheists but not all of them are part of the greater atheist community. Some just live their lives without religion and have no desire to criticize religion or fight back against the religious domination of society and culture.

Then there are my Christian friends. Some are more “Sunday” Christian in the sense that they go to Church and believe in some vague concept of God but don’t really let their beliefs affect their lives. They are for all practical purposes secular. One of my friends however is not so mainstream about his Christianity and I will talk about that later in the week.

I also have a few Wiccan friends at my barbecue. This year I had a few less than usual, but still enough to keep the conversations interesting.

Throughout the week, I will be talking about some of the more interesting topics that came up. But for today, I just want to discuss the diversity of it all. I really enjoy the fact that I have such a diverse group of friends and I wonder if other people have an equally diverse group of friends that you guys discuss religion with.

For my atheist readers, are most of your friends atheists? Do you have mainstream Christian friends who don’t really talk about religion? Or have you cultivated friendships with more fundamentalist/evangelical/born again believers? Share you experiences please.