The subject kinda says it. I see people all the time with little gold crosses around their necks (or stars or other religious symbols) and I always wonder if it’s being worn as a fashion accessory or as a statement of faith.
Rather than make this a question of just Christian symbolism, I thought I’d try to ask as generically as possible.
So, do you wear a circled-star, ankh, cross, or other symbol of a religion when you really have no actual interest in professing that religion?
Me? No. I occasionally wear a celtic cross but I also consider myself a Christian. When I wear it, it’s as a symbol of my faith.
I wear an Om sometimes though I am atheist, but I don’t think that quite fits your OP. I wear it because it’s more spiritual than religious, and plus my grandma gave it to me, and it’s…precious to me.
No. Any religious jewelry I wear, I wear as both religious jewelry and fashion accessory.
(Christian, owner of at least a half dozen crosses, few of which I ever actually wear).
The only time I’ve been tempted was when I was in Israel, and saw some really nifty Stars of David. But since I don’t have any Jewish heritage, I refrained from buying any jewelry until I found a cross I really liked–and picked up a couple pairs of earings for various relatives that weren’t religious.
I used to. I was raised Christian and it was a gift from my Aunt, who I consider a third parent. I lost it a couple years ago, though, and have no interest in replacing it unless I happen to get another one as a gift, which is unlikely as all my friends and family know I’m an atheist.
Catholics aren’t the only people who wear crosses. Christians wear crosses, Catholics tend to wear a crucifix.
My kid wears a cool jade Buddha pendant that he found somewhere. We’re not Buddhist. We’re not really anything, although the kids were both baptized in Christian (Catholic and Episcopalian) churches.
My mother’s sister passed away two years ago. At visitation my mother noticed that her sister was being buried wearing a small star of David pendant. My mother’s family were all non-practicing Catholics. She casually asked the husband, who demured with something about “it was her favorite necklace.” She shrugged it off.
Only last week did my mom put two and two together - the necklace with her sister’s refusal to eat pork chops when staying with her several years prior (she said they “weren’t on her diet” then proceeded to down an entire bag of leftover Halloween chocolate and polish it off with a box of snack cakes). Religion was never a big thing in their family, but we think she had secretly converted to Judaism. (or was living as if she did - not sure what the formal guidelines are or what she was practicing, if anything)
I probably confuse people who notice my jewelry as my necklace has an ankh and a pentacle, while around my wrist I wear a bracelet that’s also a rosary (little cross dangles at the clasp, and ten beads imprinted with roses spaced evenly around it).
My best friend’s family gave me a St. Christopher medallion when I graduated high school, which I wore for a couple of years until it broke and I lost the medallion. I’m an atheist, and I suppose if I was given another one, I would perhaps wear it. I still have the chain, and if I were to replace it myself, I would probably go for an X-men symbol instead.
In high school, though claiming to be a Pagan, I wore a large pewter cross. It fit in with my proto-gothic style.
After a few weeks, while walking home one day, crossing in front of the Catholic church the cross snapped in half. I stopped wearing crosses after that. (my mother has me beat… the last time she walked into a church for anything but a funeral or a wedding, the lights fell out of the ceiling)
These days, I have some Pagan jewlery (seal of solomon pendant, and a pentacle somewhere) but I’m in the midst of another crisis of faith, and have stopped wearing anything.
When I was a practicing Catholic, I used to wear cross earrings, and briefly wore a heavy silver crucifix belonging to (and made by) an ex-boyfriend who worked in his dad’s jewelry business. I returned it when we broke up. Later, I converted to paganism, and owned tiny pentacle earrings, which I haven’t worn in years. Is it possible to be a lapsed Catholic and a lapsed pagan?
Right now I’m somewhere in between, theologically, so I’m not sure what religious jewelry to wear.
I went to New Zealand a few years ago and bought a necklace with a jade fish-hook design. I remember that the fish hook is a Maori symbol but I’m not Maori and still love the necklace cause it reminds me of beautiful place I bought it in.
No, I could not do this. It isn’t any of my concern why other people are wearing crosses or ankhs and such, but I have no ties to any religion except my own, so I don’t think I have any business wearing someone else’s symbols. I’m Catholic, even with crosses I believe in moderation.
That being said, I was in Athens in June '04 and bought a “Phevos and Athena” T-shirt, although I do recall that there was a group who still worshiped these gods and opposed the mascots. I suppose I felt that Phevos and Athena were so ubiquitous that, in the context of everyday life, they weren’t really religious symbols anymore, like pretzels and hot-crossed buns. Or, more likely, everyone else was doing it so one more shirt wouldn’t make a difference.
Mr. Lissar used to wear a very large Celtic cross when he was a lukewarm teenage neopagan. Now that he’s Christian, he wears a small silver cross his Dad gave him when he was baptised (shortly before our wedding).
There’s a young thuggish teenager at the dojo who wears a rosary a lot. As ‘bling’. He’s very definitely not Catholic, and hasn’t a clue what it means.
I occasionally wear a cross, and am looking for a nice crucifix, but I’m Catholic. I probably wouldn’t deliberately wear jewellery with non-Christian religious symbols.
I’m Jewish and sometimes wear a Viking rune necklace my sister got me. The runes are the symbol for inspiration and do not honor any member of the Aesir or Vanir.
