what comes to your mind when you hear 'religion'? what comes to mind when you hear 'religiogender'?
have you ever noticed the many, many flags for identities that are related to religion, just in a broad sense, and then have crosses, rosaries, churches, and priests on the flag?
we've talked before about how if we brought up every instance of racism in MOGAI when we see it, people would get sick of us fast. this is one of those instances we see a *lot*, and i want to talk about it. please read the whole post before replying and getting defensive
the equation of Christianity with religion overall is a form of racism, often leading to bigotry towards marginalized religions as well. Christianity has a deep past and ongoing present of colonization that is inseparable from its impacts on society, on you, on me, on all of us! if you live in North America--and given what we know of our audience's demographics it's likely that you do--i want you to take a moment to think about how prevalent Christianity is in your surroundings. school holidays are placed around Christian holidays like Christmas by default. the prospect of doing something wrong, or sinning, being a stain on one's character and something one must make up for. how many people wearing cross necklaces do you pass by each day?
how did Christianity get here, in North America? why is it so prevalent?
Christianity is so omnipresent in North America because of colonization. Christianity is so omnipresent in North America because Indigenous peoples were beaten, abused, and murdered for the sake of converting people to Christianity. Christianity is so omnipresent in North America because several generations of Indigenous children were physically punished and even killed for practicing their cultures, including their religions. several Christian denominations were involved in running residential schools
in colonization, Christianity presents itself as not only the default, but as the sole true way, and needing to be forced on non-Christians for their own good. there can be no other option but Christianity, and if a people rejects Christianity, then missionaries force them into it. when the whole of religion becomes boiled down into solely Christianity, this cultural genocide continues. non-Christian religious people are told implicitly and constantly that we do not belong here, that we are Wrong and in need of fixing, that we are not worth considering nor paying attention to because we are not Christian
stop putting Christian symbols on terms that are meant to be related to religion in general. stop saying 'religion' when you mean Christianity. stop putting Christian symbols on terms that aren't meant to be related to religion at all. when you see someone do this, say something, especially if you're white and {culturally or otherwise} Christian; the burden of anti-racism cannot fall solely on the shoulders of those targeted by it
TL;DR: saying religion when you mean Christianity erases other religions. this erasure is one of many tactics of colonization and racism. specify Christianity when you mean Christianity. don't use Christian symbols on flags that are not Christianity-related
