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 Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:46 pm
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Goddess of the Coulee I've never experienced any of this... I'm sorry you have to endure people with such closed-minds, not that people here are very open-minded... they just don't care about opinions on religion. i am a loner by choice so it's not like many people speak to me anyway, but it's just not a big issue with these kids. Just remind yourself that it's not like that everywhere and just keep your head up. Look at me... i'm friends with a mormon, he doesn't agree with my beliefs, nor my choice of language, but we can manage to get along. 
The Mormons I know are among the most open-minded of Christians; their theology doesn't necessarily condemn others to Hell. Most all of them are pretty easy to get along with in that area.
Something I recently experienced that's in line with this topic occurred with my aunt. My aunt is a really sweet, loveable person - which makes this all the more hurtful. On Father's Day weekend, my parents, grandfather, boyfriend, and I went to her house to go fishing since she lives on a lake. My boyfriend and I are both atheists, but my grandfather was the only person at this event who is aware of this fact (my mother knows that my boyfriend is an atheist, but all she knows about me is that I'm no longer a Christian).
My aunt was brought up in Kentucky, in an environment where people believe that atheists are evil and immoral. I was brought up in a similar environment, to a point, but I finally started thinking for myself. Anyway, apparently my aunt never reached such a point; she's firmly entrenched in her beliefs and talks as if there's a man in the sky controlling her entire life, just as my mother does.
Her ex-husband (her first marriage, before she married my mom's brother and became my aunt) is in his 50s and he's having a total midlife crisis - he's dating a 20-something goth girl who happens to be an atheist. My 13 year old cousin was visiting his dad and the goth girlfriend at that time, and my aunt REALLY does not like the girlfriend.
She was telling us all about the conversation she'd had with him upon sending her son to visit them - she instructed him that he was to take their son to church (whether he, the ex, believed in it or not), and that his girlfriend was not to mention any of "that atheist devil-worshipping crap" to her son, under any circumstances. Hearing such a hateful comment coming from such a loving person was extremely hurtful to me. It was really difficult to hold my tongue, to tell the truth - but I didn't feel like getting into it with my entire family, so I kept quiet.
It's alright to request that the kid be taken to church, since he really wanted to go... but it's too much to demand that they not share any "controversial" religious ideas with him. How is he going to learn to think for himself if all he ever hears of is Christianity? He'll end up just like his and my mothers - a really kind person who also happens to be a religious bigot.
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Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 9:25 pm
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:58 pm
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Daffodil the Destroyer Goddess of the Coulee I've never experienced any of this... I'm sorry you have to endure people with such closed-minds, not that people here are very open-minded... they just don't care about opinions on religion. i am a loner by choice so it's not like many people speak to me anyway, but it's just not a big issue with these kids. Just remind yourself that it's not like that everywhere and just keep your head up. Look at me... i'm friends with a mormon, he doesn't agree with my beliefs, nor my choice of language, but we can manage to get along.
The Mormons I know are among the most open-minded of Christians; their theology doesn't necessarily condemn others to Hell. Most all of them are pretty easy to get along with in that area.
Something I recently experienced that's in line with this topic occurred with my aunt. My aunt is a really sweet, loveable person - which makes this all the more hurtful. On Father's Day weekend, my parents, grandfather, boyfriend, and I went to her house to go fishing since she lives on a lake. My boyfriend and I are both atheists, but my grandfather was the only person at this event who is aware of this fact (my mother knows that my boyfriend is an atheist, but all she knows about me is that I'm no longer a Christian).
My aunt was brought up in Kentucky, in an environment where people believe that atheists are evil and immoral. I was brought up in a similar environment, to a point, but I finally started thinking for myself. Anyway, apparently my aunt never reached such a point; she's firmly entrenched in her beliefs and talks as if there's a man in the sky controlling her entire life, just as my mother does.
Her ex-husband (her first marriage, before she married my mom's brother and became my aunt) is in his 50s and he's having a total midlife crisis - he's dating a 20-something goth girl who happens to be an atheist. My 13 year old cousin was visiting his dad and the goth girlfriend at that time, and my aunt REALLY does not like the girlfriend.
She was telling us all about the conversation she'd had with him upon sending her son to visit them - she instructed him that he was to take their son to church (whether he, the ex, believed in it or not), and that his girlfriend was not to mention any of "that atheist devil-worshipping crap" to her son, under any circumstances. Hearing such a hateful comment coming from such a loving person was extremely hurtful to me. It was really difficult to hold my tongue, to tell the truth - but I didn't feel like getting into it with my entire family, so I kept quiet.
It's alright to request that the kid be taken to church, since he really wanted to go... but it's too much to demand that they not share any "controversial" religious ideas with him. How is he going to learn to think for himself if all he ever hears of is Christianity? He'll end up just like his and my mothers - a really kind person who also happens to be a religious bigot.
I'm not exactly sure what it is that they teach and learn... this boy is not very open-minded. He believes that i should believe because i need to believe something. We sometimes argue over why religion is and he always tells me how bad cafffeine is and other such things. In the end he's my bud and no matter how annoying, we put our beliefs aside.
We can't just stereotype a religious group due to the fact that they each have their own mind and can adhere to whichever pieces of that religion they wish to. |
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:18 pm
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Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 11:50 pm
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Goddess of the Coulee Daffodil the Destroyer Goddess of the Coulee I've never experienced any of this... I'm sorry you have to endure people with such closed-minds, not that people here are very open-minded... they just don't care about opinions on religion. i am a loner by choice so it's not like many people speak to me anyway, but it's just not a big issue with these kids. Just remind yourself that it's not like that everywhere and just keep your head up. Look at me... i'm friends with a mormon, he doesn't agree with my beliefs, nor my choice of language, but we can manage to get along.
The Mormons I know are among the most open-minded of Christians; their theology doesn't necessarily condemn others to Hell. Most all of them are pretty easy to get along with in that area.
Something I recently experienced that's in line with this topic occurred with my aunt. My aunt is a really sweet, loveable person - which makes this all the more hurtful. On Father's Day weekend, my parents, grandfather, boyfriend, and I went to her house to go fishing since she lives on a lake. My boyfriend and I are both atheists, but my grandfather was the only person at this event who is aware of this fact (my mother knows that my boyfriend is an atheist, but all she knows about me is that I'm no longer a Christian).
My aunt was brought up in Kentucky, in an environment where people believe that atheists are evil and immoral. I was brought up in a similar environment, to a point, but I finally started thinking for myself. Anyway, apparently my aunt never reached such a point; she's firmly entrenched in her beliefs and talks as if there's a man in the sky controlling her entire life, just as my mother does.
Her ex-husband (her first marriage, before she married my mom's brother and became my aunt) is in his 50s and he's having a total midlife crisis - he's dating a 20-something goth girl who happens to be an atheist. My 13 year old cousin was visiting his dad and the goth girlfriend at that time, and my aunt REALLY does not like the girlfriend.
She was telling us all about the conversation she'd had with him upon sending her son to visit them - she instructed him that he was to take their son to church (whether he, the ex, believed in it or not), and that his girlfriend was not to mention any of "that atheist devil-worshipping crap" to her son, under any circumstances. Hearing such a hateful comment coming from such a loving person was extremely hurtful to me. It was really difficult to hold my tongue, to tell the truth - but I didn't feel like getting into it with my entire family, so I kept quiet.
It's alright to request that the kid be taken to church, since he really wanted to go... but it's too much to demand that they not share any "controversial" religious ideas with him. How is he going to learn to think for himself if all he ever hears of is Christianity? He'll end up just like his and my mothers - a really kind person who also happens to be a religious bigot.
I'm not exactly sure what it is that they teach and learn... this boy is not very open-minded. He believes that i should believe because i need to believe something. We sometimes argue over why religion is and he always tells me how bad cafffeine is and other such things. In the end he's my bud and no matter how annoying, we put our beliefs aside. We can't just stereotype a religious group due to the fact that they each have their own mind and can adhere to whichever pieces of that religion they wish to.
To be honest, I'm unclear as to what you're referring about stereotyping religious groups. Having grown up in and around the groups to which I'm referring, I know what it is that these groups teach, and I know that most of their adherents do come out with certain false ideas about people of other belief systems (particularly those with NO belief system). I know also that I fell into that trap during high school, and I can attest to their methods being quite effective on young minds. I also know quite a few Mormons who have discussed their theology with me, so I have a bit of background on where they come from as well.
It looks like you're saying that I am stereotyping one or the other of these groups - and I assure you that I speak from a large amount of personal experience that tells me that, in general, these ideas are very pervasive among certain Christian groups. Yes, people have their own minds, but generally these are agreed-upon tenets of certain areas and certain denominations, and most followers of those denominations that reside in those areas do not disagree.
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Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:42 am
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Daffodil the Destroyer Goddess of the Coulee Daffodil the Destroyer Goddess of the Coulee I've never experienced any of this... I'm sorry you have to endure people with such closed-minds, not that people here are very open-minded... they just don't care about opinions on religion. i am a loner by choice so it's not like many people speak to me anyway, but it's just not a big issue with these kids. Just remind yourself that it's not like that everywhere and just keep your head up. Look at me... i'm friends with a mormon, he doesn't agree with my beliefs, nor my choice of language, but we can manage to get along.
The Mormons I know are among the most open-minded of Christians; their theology doesn't necessarily condemn others to Hell. Most all of them are pretty easy to get along with in that area.
Something I recently experienced that's in line with this topic occurred with my aunt. My aunt is a really sweet, loveable person - which makes this all the more hurtful. On Father's Day weekend, my parents, grandfather, boyfriend, and I went to her house to go fishing since she lives on a lake. My boyfriend and I are both atheists, but my grandfather was the only person at this event who is aware of this fact (my mother knows that my boyfriend is an atheist, but all she knows about me is that I'm no longer a Christian).
My aunt was brought up in Kentucky, in an environment where people believe that atheists are evil and immoral. I was brought up in a similar environment, to a point, but I finally started thinking for myself. Anyway, apparently my aunt never reached such a point; she's firmly entrenched in her beliefs and talks as if there's a man in the sky controlling her entire life, just as my mother does.
Her ex-husband (her first marriage, before she married my mom's brother and became my aunt) is in his 50s and he's having a total midlife crisis - he's dating a 20-something goth girl who happens to be an atheist. My 13 year old cousin was visiting his dad and the goth girlfriend at that time, and my aunt REALLY does not like the girlfriend.
She was telling us all about the conversation she'd had with him upon sending her son to visit them - she instructed him that he was to take their son to church (whether he, the ex, believed in it or not), and that his girlfriend was not to mention any of "that atheist devil-worshipping crap" to her son, under any circumstances. Hearing such a hateful comment coming from such a loving person was extremely hurtful to me. It was really difficult to hold my tongue, to tell the truth - but I didn't feel like getting into it with my entire family, so I kept quiet.
It's alright to request that the kid be taken to church, since he really wanted to go... but it's too much to demand that they not share any "controversial" religious ideas with him. How is he going to learn to think for himself if all he ever hears of is Christianity? He'll end up just like his and my mothers - a really kind person who also happens to be a religious bigot.
I'm not exactly sure what it is that they teach and learn... this boy is not very open-minded. He believes that i should believe because i need to believe something. We sometimes argue over why religion is and he always tells me how bad cafffeine is and other such things. In the end he's my bud and no matter how annoying, we put our beliefs aside. We can't just stereotype a religious group due to the fact that they each have their own mind and can adhere to whichever pieces of that religion they wish to.
To be honest, I'm unclear as to what you're referring about stereotyping religious groups. Having grown up in and around the groups to which I'm referring, I know what it is that these groups teach, and I know that most of their adherents do come out with certain false ideas about people of other belief systems (particularly those with NO belief system). I know also that I fell into that trap during high school, and I can attest to their methods being quite effective on young minds. I also know quite a few Mormons who have discussed their theology with me, so I have a bit of background on where they come from as well.
It looks like you're saying that I am stereotyping one or the other of these groups - and I assure you that I speak from a large amount of personal experience that tells me that, in general, these ideas are very pervasive among certain Christian groups. Yes, people have their own minds, but generally these are agreed-upon tenets of certain areas and certain denominations, and most followers of those denominations that reside in those areas do not disagree.
She's making a fair statement since she makes it clear that she's only speaking from her experience and uses modifiers like "most". It's generally very difficult and at times unnecessarily painful to try to argue someone into accepting your [non]-religious position. I believe it's best to behave in a manner consistent with your conscience whilst being clear that your motives are not rooted in theology. It's much harder for them to argue against what is right before them, physically present. Let them grapple with their belief that their good-hearted loved ones are damned, by themselves. |
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Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:22 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:41 pm
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A couple months ago, before school got out for the summer, I was eating lunch in the cafeteria, right? Some random person came up to me and started shouting stuff at me. I don't remember most of it, but..."Spawn of Satan! Something, something, something, why are you trying to destroy all that is pure and holy in this world?!?!? Take this!" When he said "take this" he splashed me with holy water, and then he fled. He ruined my rigatoni crying
A little bit before that too, when I had a sub in math...
"Would the Christians please stand up?"
Most of the class, of course, stood up.
"Devil-worshipers who remained seating, come to my desk."
He gave us all referrals, but when we went to the office, we explained what happened, so we didn't get detention or anything. I don't know what happened to the sub, but I'm guessing that he won't be working in my school district again...
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Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 11:42 am
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:30 pm
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:24 pm
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i live in the central kentucky, meaning most people are open-minded enough to not do such things, and my school is pretty liberal, or open-minded conservatives.
BUT, my dad accidentally found out that i wasn't christian (at the time i was agnostic. now i'm agnosticishpagany), he gave me an hour-long lecture, literally, on how and why i was going to hell and how i was doing this to spite him. i tried to explain my point of view, but, being the deaf bigot he is, he barelled right through my words and kept talking. i just sat back and daydreamed while i waited for him to finish. his parting words were:
"i can't believe you'd do this to me".
he'd told my mom, naturally, and she's okay with it, but mostly because she knows i'm me and i'm stubborn and nothing she can do or say will change me. she knows i'm really different from my mostly-hick family, so she just accepts it. my dad pretends none of my "wierdness" exists. rolleyes whatever. i'm ast it.
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Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:26 pm
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Habible A couple months ago, before school got out for the summer, I was eating lunch in the cafeteria, right? Some random person came up to me and started shouting stuff at me. I don't remember most of it, but..."Spawn of Satan! Something, something, something, why are you trying to destroy all that is pure and holy in this world?!?!? Take this!" When he said "take this" he splashed me with holy water, and then he fled. He ruined my rigatoni crying
A little bit before that too, when I had a sub in math...
"Would the Christians please stand up?"
Most of the class, of course, stood up.
"Devil-worshipers who remained seating, come to my desk."
He gave us all referrals, but when we went to the office, we explained what happened, so we didn't get detention or anything. I don't know what happened to the sub, but I'm guessing that he won't be working in my school district again...
eek That sub is a b***h! If he dident get kicked out of being a teacher for atleast a year then I am shocked and wouldent be very surprizes because of my school were everyones christian..however the teachers wouldent do anything like that because they believe everyone at the school is chirstian..which it pretty much is. Everyones christian, very few atheists me being one of them(atleast 6-7 including me). And NO-ONE other than me and one other person I know accually watch anime, this is completely unrelated but im very upset with this because anime/manga and everything otaku is my life...I have nothing in common with anyone other than one person. |
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Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 8:51 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:01 am
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