Originally posted by DigiOy. Goyim...
So I smiled and told her I wasn't religious. Her response was "You mean like Jewish?"
Originally posted by Symmetric ChaosThat was pre-Vatican II.
It's interesting how people think that religions are somehow total anathema to one another. Like if you put a Jew and a Christian in the same room they would be compelled to fight to the death or something.
Ah. Good times.
Originally posted by Digi
So I bought a zip-up hoodie the other day, that when zipped up forms a giant Autobot symbol.And I'm going to leave a bar last night and zip it up. Two of my friends look at it and one looks at me and says, "That is awesome." It was a religious moment for me.
😱 The hoodie presthood awaits you. 😉
As part of my Comparative Religions/Research in Sociology joint class, I had to observe a Synod Lutheran church service (I've been doing community service for them for the past two months.)
It was an interesting experience since I was raised in a more Charismatic fundamentalist setting and in comparison the Lutherans were fairly... well scripted almost.
In a way it was almost weird to be there. The only atheist surrounded by a bunch of people that believe the Bible is the innerant word of god and that everything in the Bible should be taken literally.
It was creepy.
Originally posted by Autokrat
As part of my Comparative Religions/Research in Sociology joint class, I had to observe a Synod Lutheran church service (I've been doing community service for them for the past two months.)It was an interesting experience since I was raised in a more Charismatic fundamentalist setting and in comparison the Lutherans were fairly... well scripted almost.
In a way it was almost weird to be there. The only atheist surrounded by a bunch of people that believe the Bible is the innerant word of god and that everything in the Bible should be taken literally.
It was creepy.
I should go back to church at some point just for the experience of it as an atheist. I think the last time I seriously went I knew I wasn't Christian anymore but hadn't hashed out my new worldview yet. Anyway, fun story.
Originally posted by Digi
I should go back to church at some point just for the experience of it as an atheist. I think the last time I seriously went I knew I wasn't Christian anymore but hadn't hashed out my new worldview yet. Anyway, fun story.
It was somewhat awkward when I had to explain to people why I was there. I mean I couldn't just say, "Oh hey I'm getting the demographics of your church and writing a ten page academic report on it so it can be scientifically studied by my class and compared with data from other student teams."
I figured that would make them feel like a lab rat.
Although the most awkward part was explaining that I was an atheist. I was tempted to say agnostic since that has less of a "negative" connotation, but screw it. I wasn't going to shy around what I was. Even though several people tried to convince me the error of my ways and explain why Christianity was better than everything else.
Originally posted by Autokrat
It was somewhat awkward when I had to explain to people why I was there. I mean I couldn't just say, "Oh hey I'm getting the demographics of your church and writing a ten page academic report on it so it can be scientifically studied by my class and compared with data from other student teams."I figured that would make them feel like a lab rat.
Although the most awkward part was explaining that I was an atheist. I was tempted to say agnostic since that has less of a "negative" connotation, but screw it. I wasn't going to shy around what I was. Even though several people tried to convince me the error of my ways and explain why Christianity was better than everything else.
My sister had to do something that was almost identical for her degree, and it involved going to a Christian Science church. They first tried to convert her then turned skeptical and a bit standoffish when she explained why she was there. She ended up agreeing to an interview with one of the church's leaders because they wanted to ensure that they weren't portrayed in a negative light. Sounded like controlling your press to me, but meh, it wasn't my assignment. My sister was undoubtedly more forgiving than I would have been in her report.
She's Catholic though, so there wasn't quite the shock reaction that atheism would receive. I've resorted to "non-religious" when I realize beforehand that there won't be ample opportunity to discuss it, or when the conversation will be very one-sided. Though I will admit to using the word atheist a few times before for the reaction it elicits....it amuses me.
I had an incident recently (or rather two). It's not religious per se, althought people who spoke to me obviously assumed I was something or other.
We were in a club few weeks ago, and I was sitting with my friends at a table (they were all French or Quebecois, and visibly so). Two people came up to me, two women and some of their friends, that stood behind them. They were agressively leaning over the table demanding to know if I was an effing Arab. I replied I was not. Then she said, ''you look like an Arab''. And left. What she meant to say was ''you look like a Muslim''.
The other time, I was waslking down St Cathrine with my friend from Lebanon, who was visibly Arab, and we got shouted at ''go home you effing terrorists''.
The thing is, they assumed we were Muslims, when ironically, neither of us are. My Lebanese friend is a Christian.
People are retards.
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
We were in a club few weeks ago, and I was sitting with my friends at a table (they were all French or Quebecois, and visibly so). Two people came up to me, two women and some of their friends, that stood behind them. They were agressively leaning over the table demanding to know if I was an effing Arab. I replied I was not. Then she said, ''you look like an Arab''. And left. What she meant to say was ''you look like a Muslim''.
This assumes you're psychic and she's an idiot . . .
My class was having a debate on the influence on theists in society and why religious people are never expected to have to prove that a deity exists as opposed to demanding that the atheists prove them that they are wrong. Essentially why proving the negative had become the standard with which to enter debates.
Anyways, the debate went way off topic and I mentioned a research foll that showed that half of American's believed in young Earth Creationism and how I felt this was a good indicator that a large number of the US population really doesn't know what they believe. My argument was that if people really understood the evidence, they would realize that young Earth Creationism is an absurd and delusional belief.
This was something a mistake since I didn't realize that the only religious member of the class that we had, was a fundamentalist. He freaked and accused me of calling his beliefs delusional.
The debate kind of went downhill from there, although I refused to recant on my point. It was a damn higher institution of learning; I refuse to entertain creationism as a rational, cogent viewpoint.
Originally posted by Autokrat
My class was having a debate on the influence on theists in society and why religious people are never expected to have to prove that a deity exists as opposed to demanding that the atheists prove them that they are wrong. Essentially why proving the negative had become the standard with which to enter debates.Anyways, the debate went way off topic and I mentioned a research foll that showed that half of American's believed in young Earth Creationism and how I felt this was a good indicator that a large number of the US population really doesn't know what they believe. My argument was that if people really understood the evidence, they would realize that young Earth Creationism is an absurd and delusional belief.
This was something a mistake since I didn't realize that the only religious member of the class that we had, was a fundamentalist. He freaked and accused me of calling his beliefs delusional.
The debate kind of went downhill from there, although I refused to recant on my point. It was a damn higher institution of learning; I refuse to entertain creationism as a rational, cogent viewpoint.
Awesome.
I dated a girl once who believed Oijia (sic?) boards were real. I was dumbfounded, and ended up accidentally insulting her as a result of my opinion on them. We didn't last much longer. Not exactly the same, but your story reminded me of that.
Originally posted by Autokrat
My class was having a debate on the influence on theists in society and why religious people are never expected to have to prove that a deity exists as opposed to demanding that the atheists prove them that they are wrong. Essentially why proving the negative had become the standard with which to enter debates.Anyways, the debate went way off topic and I mentioned a research foll that showed that half of American's believed in young Earth Creationism and how I felt this was a good indicator that a large number of the US population really doesn't know what they believe. My argument was that if people really understood the evidence, they would realize that young Earth Creationism is an absurd and delusional belief.
This was something a mistake since I didn't realize that the only religious member of the class that we had, was a fundamentalist. He freaked and accused me of calling his beliefs delusional.
The debate kind of went downhill from there, although I refused to recant on my point. It was a damn higher institution of learning; I refuse to entertain creationism as a rational, cogent viewpoint.
It is telling that this person acted that way. I mean if someone in the class said the Earth was flat, would you get upset? No, not really... You are confident about the Earth being round. I think this fundamentalist in your class is not confident about his beliefs. I think that is why he got upset.
Originally posted by Autokrat
The debate ended on something of an ugly note, especially when we started talking about faith.
Did you know that faith is a code word for "I'm right, and you are wrong"? It's no wonder the debate ended on faith. What you have to do is not let them get away with that by pointing out where faith goes wrong (like Unicorns, and the Easter Bunny).
Rabbi, priest, and minister are all in the forest and have a competition to see who's the best at what they do. Finally they decide that in order to prove there 'leet religion skills, they will all go out and find an animal and convert it.
They all meet the next day.
the priest says: Well, I went out on my quest and found a rabbit. I read him the catechism and he'll be attending mass this Sunday.
Everyone agrees that that was a success.
The Minister says: Ha, I found a squirrel and got him to sit still while I read from the bible and finally he let me baptise him.
Everyone agrees that that was a success.
The Rabbi is in a wheel chair and neck brace typing everything he says Stephen Hawking style.
"What happened?" everyone asks.
The rabbi's speaker says in it's slow robotic voice:
I went out and I met a bear in the woods and......
mayyybeeeee I shouldn't have started with the Circumcision.
Originally posted by One Free Man
Rabbi, priest, and minister are all in the forest and have a competition to see who's the best at what they do. Finally they decide that in order to prove there 'leet religion skills, they will all go out and find an animal and convert it.They all meet the next day.
the priest says: Well, I went out on my quest and found a rabbit. I read him the catechism and he'll be attending mass this Sunday.
Everyone agrees that that was a success.
The Minister says: Ha, I found a squirrel and got him to sit still while I read from the bible and finally he let me baptise him.
Everyone agrees that that was a success.
The Rabbi is in a wheel chair and neck brace typing everything he says Stephen Hawking style.
"What happened?" everyone asks.
The rabbi's speaker says in it's slow robotic voice:
I went out and I met a bear in the woods and......mayyybeeeee I shouldn't have started with the Circumcision.
SPAM