i had a quite weird day on saturday.
bethan (my daughter) was away with my sister and her family to see fish in portaferry, so the rest of us (ruth, my wife and joe, my baby son) headed into town to relax, have lunch, spend some hmv vouchers, have coffee and stuff.
on the way into town, we spotted some people dressed very unusually, but didn't really think anything of it. then we realised that it was the annual "pride" march in belfast.
i have never been in belfast for pride before and am more used to seeing old men in collars and flute bands marching, so i found the whole thing very different.
i was surprised to see a couple of things,
firstly, there where loads of people parading. i had no idea that there was such a large gay community in belfast.
secondly, the response of the crowd was seemingly one of cheering and acceptance, and i didn't see anyone heckle or shout abuse at the parade.
these were both pleasant surprises. i thought that maybe belfast is becoming a more tolerant place and maybe even a more fun place.
i am sure that there was some free presbyterians condemning everyone to hell somewhere, but i didn't see them.
i don't know what the ethos of the pride parades is, but it made me ask what i am proud of.
i seem to have spent a lot of effort feeling anything but proud of my culture, class and faith - certainly not proud enough to parade declaring it.
i don't know what it is that makes me want to hide, or run away from, these things. i guess i am thinking that pride isn't a good thing and puts others on the defensive and judges others.
maybe i am reluctant to declare myself an evangelical christian because i am not proud of some of the attitudes and statements that come from people calling themselves this - particularly about sexuality.
maybe rg, will explain the psychology behind this, but maybe there is no real explanation other than i am a chickenshit who doesn't want to be labelled and defined.
i was proud to be from belfast on Saturday though.
2 comments:
Daily Dose of Made-up Psychology:
There is an evolutionary-psychological theory (which I have just made up)to suggest that marching (which is universal as far as I can tell) has functioned primarily in human history as a coalition display - ie. a means for social groups to display their weight, socioeconomics, physical size and weaponry to other groups in order to give opposing coalitions a chance to become allies before entering into warfare and losing lives or being obliterated. A bit like an animal puffing itself etc. to ward off potential challenges without actually having to risk getting hurt. Groups of humans that could organise themselves to do this (usually for territorial or economic gain) would be able to grow in size and dominate.
That idea doesn't rest well with the gentler aspects of Christianity, so I suspect your reluctance to entertain the idea of marching is because you aren't of a militant 'join or be squashed!' mindset....
I trust this artifical reconstruction of human ancestral past is adequate.
hmmm... i think Gay Pride comes about, because for years, hundreds of years... goodness me.. for ever! being a gay has been something to be ashamed off. Athough maybe they should be, christians havent really been racked with shame at what they do or how they are perceived.
i think you should be proud to join the parade, come out of the closet, you all ready have the George Micheal beard, and freddie tash set
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