Liars...

[Andara Bledin]

I have an especial loathing for people who claim that they want to learn about something but merely use that as a way to get their foot in the door so that they can then attack you for having the audacity to be different from them.

^-.-^

[wraiths_crono]

Heh in that sense, I am with you 100%, I am Pagan and have had plenty of people ask me some basic questions about it, they seem interested then BAM bring on the Christian-conversion-bat attempts.

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

Yeah, been there and done that. Being Wiccan I get that a lot too.

[Andara Bledin]

You'd think being Christian would make me a little less likely to get hit like that, but I get it from the atheists who think they need to "fix" me. 9.9

^-.-^

[Ipecac Drano]

I have an especial loathing for people who claim that they want to learn about something but merely use that as a way to get their foot in the door so that they can then attack you for having the audacity to be different from them.

I hate that, too.


BTW, wraiths and Mungo: Have a happy Solstice and Yule!

[Amanita]

Another Pagan here! Fortunately I have not been hassled in this manner. But what the hell is up with some athiests and their need to bash anyone who believes in anything remotely spiritual? Like we're poor, deluded sheep of some sort, and confessing to a belief in anything not 100% quantifiable by science means you're brainwashed.

[Ipecac Drano]

Another Pagan here!

Have a cool Yule!

[RootedPhoenix]

Another Pagan here! Fortunately I have not been hassled in this manner. But what the hell is up with some athiests and their need to bash anyone who believes in anything remotely spiritual? Like we're poor, deluded sheep of some sort, and confessing to a belief in anything not 100% quantifiable by science means you're brainwashed.

Whatever happened to people just leaving other people's beliefs alone? Curiosity is fine. Trying to figure out things you don't understand is okay. But why attack someone for being different? They're still people; disagreeing with them doesn't change that!

*sighs* People. *offers cookies to the whole thread*

[Amanita]

Some people just have a bug up their ass about religion in general. I remember asking about praying at the WTC site on an NYC forum- I was thinking of offering some prayers in honor of the deceased. Now, I wanted to head off unhelpful responses like "If you wanna pray, go do it in church", so I said right out that I was a Pagan. Holy shit, did I get jumped on. I was accused of "being provocative" and "attention seeking" just for saying what religion I was, and got a lecture on how religion should be private- the person who said that has quite a record of attacking any form of public religious display, large or small. He said that merely by stating what faith I was, that constituted "shoving it down people's throats".

Fuck him with a chili-doused dildo! Would I be accused of those things if I stated I was jewish, and looking for a synogogue so I could attend services while in town? Or for saying that I was Jehovah's Witness and therefore not allowed to set foot in St Paul's, the church which has become synonymous with 9/11?
To me, it takes something much more serious than saying "I'm (insert sect here)" or quietly praying somewhere to constitute "cramming one's beliefs down anyone's throat".
Cramming would involve things like "I'm a member of whatever, and if you're not, what's wrong with you?", or trying to force other people to join in one's prayers. I don't prosyletize, or try to force people to take part in my observances, but at the same time, I'll be damned if I'm going to treat my beliefs as shameful, and something to be hidden.
Goddamnit, Paganism is not a "shock value" religion!

[Ginger Tea]

I thought you could pray anywhere anyway.
I'm not religious, bias against organized religion but not the practitioners of such, I don't care what flavour of christianity you are, how would it affect my life? unless you are a nutjob, probably not at all.
I accept other religions and or spiritual beliefs, I just don't hold any myself (as such)
Hell I don't care if you belive in "dave the voice in the sky", if you find comfort in that and arn't a danger to yourself or others, its hunky dory

[aurelemsrealm]

I don't hold to any particular religion as such. I read a lot of different spiritual and philosophical materials, and compare notes on different perspectives as time permits. I have a great interest in the known sciences, and have an equally great interest in the mysteries of the unknown. I don't see science and religion as mutually exclusive bodies of knowledge. Instead I see them as two sides of the same coin.

I definitely think there is more purpose to this life than to simply exist. I think life as we know it is more than just a fluke of random chance. I think we are here to learn and grow. I think we'll continue on in some form beyond this existence. That's my viewpoint, and it's subject to change as I change.

[Ipecac Drano]

Hell I don't care if you belive in "dave the voice in the sky", if you find comfort in that and arn't a danger to yourself or others, its hunky dory

My thing with religion is that someone has to go out of their way to create something to comfort them instead of taking comfort in what's already there. If they acknowledge that is what they're doing, they shouldn't get offended if their deity is being labelled an imaginary friend, nor should they deny the existence of the Easter Bunny.

My main beef ties in with the last thing you said, about not being a danger to themself or others. That's fine, but a lot of times they don't realize when they have crossed that line into the danger zone.

Even if endangerment isn't the issue, they still put a crimp on themselves and others. A few years ago, a man went into a shoe store where I was shopping and wanted his daughter's feet to be measured. There was a small hitch: the man and daughter were of a certain Jewish sect and he forbidded the men to measure the girl's feet and insisted on having a woman do it. Sadly, there were only men working that day.

[Andara Bledin]

My thing with religion is that someone has to go out of their way to create something to comfort them instead of taking comfort in what's already there.

This thread isn't about religion, it's about people with ulterior motives.

If you have religious issues to discuss, take it to a different thread, please.

^-.-^

[Ipecac Drano]

This thread isn't about religion, it's about people with ulterior motives.

If you have religious issues to discuss, take it to a different thread, please.

So, why aren't you railing against other people for discussing religion in this thread? Oh, right: by using your bias in this thread this makes you the example of having an ulterior motive.

[Andara Bledin]

Oh, there is bias; I don't deny that. You think you can bait me in a thread I started (again) and I'm not going to have bias against you?

No ulterior motive, however. I want the thread to go back to being about people who are liars.

You know, like people who give happy greetings to others without any interest in being nice to them, but to snub someone else who they pointedly don't greet at all. Things like that.

^-.-^