Digi
Here's what this is:
It's a place to talk about everyday encounters or events from your own life that deal in some way with religion. We're all interesting people (haermm) and we like to talk religion. We undoubtedly have fun stuff to tell.
This isn't a place to post Chicken Soup For the Soul-esque stories to tout a particular belief system. Nor is it the place to attack the veracity of stories in order to further your own worldview.
Now, if you have an event from your life that, in the course of telling it, sends a clear message that you are or aren't a particular religion, that's fine. It would be impossible to avoid this. But I think (hope?) that we're all aware enough to realize the difference between sharing a story and proselytizing. The former is encouraged. The latter will be reported.
Feel free to add your own, or comment on others' stories.
....
Anyway, I'll start...
So today I was at a dinner following a church golf outing. It was a group my dad had belonged to for years, and many of his old friends were there. Good food, free beer, good times. So a Santa Claus stand-in (seriously, bowl full of jelly belly and a scruffy white beard) finds me at one point and starts chatting me up. This eventually leads to the question:
"Do you attend church here?"
"Oh, no. My family does but I don't."
Suddenly more serious: "Well you should."
I smile slightly and also try to avoid an eye-roll, because I see where it's going. "Uh, yeah. Thanks but no thanks."
It's always a fine line when this happens to me (and it has a few times). I enjoy religious discussion, but this was clearly unsolicited and he intended for it to be one-sided rather than an exchange of ideas. It's generally uncalled for, so I'm a bit annoyed when it happens and would love to go on the offensive, either with defending my privacy in religious decisions or in questioning his own practices and beliefs. On the other hand, I'm a pretty laid back dude who doesn't like offending others, and for the most part I have no problem with religion or its adherents. I've only really gone off once in my life, and the dude more than deserved it. But it's a recurring struggle with these things.
Anyway, I tried to remain congenial with Santa but eventually tried to trip him up. After some of his own brief proselytizing, he asked me, "who put you on this earth?"
"My parents," once again waiting for the inevitable response, accompanied by a slight head wag.
"God did."
"Really? How do you know that?" I asked, finally allowing myself a touch of irony. He just smiled and tapped his heart a few times. He's probably a real altruistic dude, and thought he was doing a great thing. So it's hard to be angry, but I was still annoyed.
I tapped my own heart. "Well I have this that says that that's wrong. How do we know which one of us is right?"
"You just have to look inside yourself and be able to give thanks for what you have." Ok, so I was done at that point. I had expected either an appeal to faith or a dodge, and got the latter, and didn't feel like continuing. I wanted to let him know I am atheist, because I don't think he had put it together, and thought I was a lapsed Christian who simply didn't practice anymore. It might have given him a shock. But I got myself out with some cliche lines and left.
So yeah, nothing profound, evil, funny, etc. But I've encountered this sort of thing enough to have it be something that I think about, because I'm always unsure of how to handle it. It's tempting to be a d*ck, but I would also feel bad about it more often than not.
If anyone has similar stories, feel free to share. Or completely unrelated ones, share those as well.
It's a place to talk about everyday encounters or events from your own life that deal in some way with religion. We're all interesting people (haermm) and we like to talk religion. We undoubtedly have fun stuff to tell.
This isn't a place to post Chicken Soup For the Soul-esque stories to tout a particular belief system. Nor is it the place to attack the veracity of stories in order to further your own worldview.
Now, if you have an event from your life that, in the course of telling it, sends a clear message that you are or aren't a particular religion, that's fine. It would be impossible to avoid this. But I think (hope?) that we're all aware enough to realize the difference between sharing a story and proselytizing. The former is encouraged. The latter will be reported.
Feel free to add your own, or comment on others' stories.
....
Anyway, I'll start...
So today I was at a dinner following a church golf outing. It was a group my dad had belonged to for years, and many of his old friends were there. Good food, free beer, good times. So a Santa Claus stand-in (seriously, bowl full of jelly belly and a scruffy white beard) finds me at one point and starts chatting me up. This eventually leads to the question:
"Do you attend church here?"
"Oh, no. My family does but I don't."
Suddenly more serious: "Well you should."
I smile slightly and also try to avoid an eye-roll, because I see where it's going. "Uh, yeah. Thanks but no thanks."
It's always a fine line when this happens to me (and it has a few times). I enjoy religious discussion, but this was clearly unsolicited and he intended for it to be one-sided rather than an exchange of ideas. It's generally uncalled for, so I'm a bit annoyed when it happens and would love to go on the offensive, either with defending my privacy in religious decisions or in questioning his own practices and beliefs. On the other hand, I'm a pretty laid back dude who doesn't like offending others, and for the most part I have no problem with religion or its adherents. I've only really gone off once in my life, and the dude more than deserved it. But it's a recurring struggle with these things.
Anyway, I tried to remain congenial with Santa but eventually tried to trip him up. After some of his own brief proselytizing, he asked me, "who put you on this earth?"
"My parents," once again waiting for the inevitable response, accompanied by a slight head wag.
"God did."
"Really? How do you know that?" I asked, finally allowing myself a touch of irony. He just smiled and tapped his heart a few times. He's probably a real altruistic dude, and thought he was doing a great thing. So it's hard to be angry, but I was still annoyed.
I tapped my own heart. "Well I have this that says that that's wrong. How do we know which one of us is right?"
"You just have to look inside yourself and be able to give thanks for what you have." Ok, so I was done at that point. I had expected either an appeal to faith or a dodge, and got the latter, and didn't feel like continuing. I wanted to let him know I am atheist, because I don't think he had put it together, and thought I was a lapsed Christian who simply didn't practice anymore. It might have given him a shock. But I got myself out with some cliche lines and left.
So yeah, nothing profound, evil, funny, etc. But I've encountered this sort of thing enough to have it be something that I think about, because I'm always unsure of how to handle it. It's tempting to be a d*ck, but I would also feel bad about it more often than not.
If anyone has similar stories, feel free to share. Or completely unrelated ones, share those as well.
