Go to Religion in the Modern World
- Add a comment
- Go to About Orwellian bloggers
Whinge - I know what you are saying - whether I like it or not my personal
convictions are grounded (for better or worse) in Christianity as well.
I was brought up in the catholic church as you were but refused to participate again after escaping their clutches upon primary school graduation.
posted by
gomedome
on December 30, 2006 at 5:57 PM
| link to this | reply
Gome, that's why I just urge her to be open minded, mind her manners,
be respectful of other faiths, allow herself to at least have a foundation in one religion, whether or not she wants to leave that behind her is up to her.
Personally, aside from all the revelations in recent years regarding clerical abuse in the Catholic church, the misrepresentation of Mary Magdalene (I was still taught that she was a prostitute even though that whole thing was lifted by the papacy), the whole OCD'ness of the genuflecting, blessing, decades of rosaries, & the bonging of angeluses did my head in.
I still have vaguely Christian beliefs, but don't really answer to a Church personally.
posted by
CringeintheUSA
on December 30, 2006 at 4:56 PM
| link to this | reply
Presley - I've always felt that the very first step to enlightenment is
acknowledging that our thinking may be as flawed as the next person.
It is within this self examination and resultant correction, if we are able to see where we are wrong, where we grow as individuals. Pity the fool that thinks they are absolutely right in their beliefs and self assessment.
posted by
gomedome
on December 30, 2006 at 4:42 PM
| link to this | reply
Whinge - your daughter sounds a lot like I was at that age
. . . except that when I came home from school with these types of laments I received a double dose of bible thumping (presumably as a cure for my doubts) from my family. It did little to change any perspective that I held, being force fed this stuff from every direction was simply annoying to me.
posted by
gomedome
on December 30, 2006 at 4:37 PM
| link to this | reply
Gomedome
Your last sentence in your comment to me just proved the point I was making.
posted by
Presley
on December 30, 2006 at 12:42 PM
| link to this | reply
Ah well, being a lapsed Catholic & good at it,
it's generally the more fundamentalist faiths that get all worked up about this kind of thing.
My 11 yr old daughter is going to school (in Ireland there are practically zero non denominational schools) and complains about religion being rammed down her throat, feels that the bible just a bunch of elaborate fairy stories (her words). She hasn't been influenced in her thinking in any way by any direct source or person, and I urge her to respect other peoples beliefs & to be mindful of the authority of the teacher. She can make her own choices regarding her beliefs when she's 16 & has made it her business to be better informed.
posted by
CringeintheUSA
on December 30, 2006 at 12:39 PM
| link to this | reply
Presley - it has been my experience since I have been on Blogit that
there are some generalizations that can be made about believers and non believers.
Every last person that I have caught in a bare faced lie has been a believer attempting to discredit non believers. This is not a miniscule sampling that might be accredited to a fringe perspective either, the frequency is alarming. On the other hand, every last person that has professed non belief on this site has been some of this forum's best cybor citizens. I have never seen one of them lying to discredit others, there seems to be a much greater level of inherent honesty amongst them. Having said all of this, I must however concede my own bias and the realities of human behavior. I may not see the negative traits in those who profess non belief because I am not at odds with them.
posted by
gomedome
on December 30, 2006 at 12:38 PM
| link to this | reply
Gomedome
Something I've been witnessing here is that many of the non-believers (whatever you want to label it) CLEARLY demonstrate that they are more open and willing to accept interpretation and perception as a possible truth as compared to some believers (whatever you want to label it) who spoon feed you the logic that everything in the Bible is Law and Fact. Some of the believers, in my humble opinion, are the lost ones!
posted by
Presley
on December 30, 2006 at 12:26 PM
| link to this | reply