open and closed minds?

[brandy]

i know this post will prob start a war of words but just to state this in not my intention.
this is something that has really been bothering me the past few years and i really want to get it off my chest to speak.
everyone is allways going on about being open minded and how we should accept this that and the other. which is fine . as long as it goes both ways.
as most of you know im a deeply religious person and have my own personal beliefs and faiths.
however i do not presume to tell other people that what they are doing is immoral and wrong and that they will burn in everlasting fire.. simply because i do not belive that and do not find it my place to judge.
dont get me wrong i get all fired up over some topics and have very strong oppinions on things and express them from time to time *grins*
however, i have found in this community where everyone preaches open mindness and freedom to belive how they want.. exspecially when it comes to paganism atheism and all religions bar christianity..
in the past 6 years i have been harrassed over my faith.. told i was stupid and ignorant to belive in God . that there was no God . that to raise my children in my familys faith was wrong and basically that every thing i stood for all my moral values and standards were ridiculous.
in all that time i have never ever told anyone that they were the idiots or stupid because they belive differently than i . that they were wrong..
i honestly belive that what ever makes someone content and at peace with theirselves is right.
still, it stings though when im refered to as a religious freak and that im traumatising my children because they will be made fun of and tormented for thier beliefs.. when those same people are screaming ... equality, dont bash me, and let people live their lives how they seem fit.
when they are living with their own double standards..
to take a page from my mamas book im finally standing up and saying.. practice what you preach.
i agree as long as what you do hurts no one.. and is legal .. have at it.
what you do in your personal lives is your own buisness.. but these double standards are getting to be to hypocrytical.

[figgy]

Hey Brandy, I sympathise - I've had persecution because I believe in God too, although only from a few very narrow-minded, trouble-making types. Not everyone scoffs; sometimes you can have a good talk about what you believe in and have all sorts of interesting conversations.

Don't ever give up on your belief for the sake of ridicule.

[brandy]

oh dont worry hun not about to give my faith up !*grins* just glad there are no lions up north! or i might start getting worried !*laughs*

[wicker]

Good on you for sticking up for your beliefs, personally myself i dont believe but would never dream of telling someone what they believe is wrong just because i dont.

[Rheghead]

Hasn't Christianity spread from being an Judaen cult to being a major religion on the basis of being intolerant of other religions?

So isn't it a bit hypocritical rich of believers to start crying they are 'victims of intolerance'?

[Jeid]

Everyone has the right to believe in whatever they want. I don't believe in anything really, but I won't go enforcing that one someone. I'll state my opinon on the matter if it comes up in conversation(like in another thread just now) and explain why I disbelieve.

People in this community think it's their right to impose their opinion on you when it's not asked for. Stuff them... you carry on believing in what you want and just ignore them.

[Saveman]

Hasn't Christianity spread from being an Judaen cult to being a major religion on the basis of being intolerant of other religions?
<snip>

Indeed, the Crusades are a fine example of that.

However, I don't think its rich (or hypocritcal for that matter) for Brandy to ask that she not be harrassed for her beliefs. Thats something to be accepted and respected.
Well said Brandy.

[erli]

Hi Brandy, I'm a Christian too. Read 2 Corinthians 12:10.

Have a wonderful Christmas with your family.

God Bless.

[hereboy]

i have found in this community where everyone preaches open mindness and freedom to belive how they want.. exspecially when it comes to paganism atheism and all religions bar christianity..
in the past 6 years i have been harrassed over my faith.. told i was stupid and ignorant to belive in God . .

Brandy thats a shame, my grandfather used to say "If we all liked the same thing, the whole world would fancy your granny"

So celebrate whatever makes you happy....

oh and as an aside, is Atheism a non-prophet organisation?

[EDDIE]

Well for me its your own decision whether u want to be religous in what ever faith u believe in or not at all.I think that its not right to cast opinions on peoples faith it should be all about respect other peoples faith even if you dont believe in it.Its there choice and we should respect there beliefs whether they have a faith or not.

[scorrie]

Well for me its your own decision whether u want to be religous in what ever faith u believe in or not at all.I think that its not right to cast opinions on peoples faith it should be all about respect other peoples faith even if you dont believe in it.Its there choice and we should respect there beliefs whether they have a faith or not.

That would be all well and good but history is full of problems caused by people trying to force their religion onto others. Even today the Mormons and Jehovahs will be tapping your door trying to tell you where you are going wrong in life and why you should embrace their beliefs. Luckily, as the old joke goes, unlike a Lada, you are able to shut the door on a Jehovah's Witness.

Some one else said, in a seperate thread, that you cannot escape the fact that the Bible will have shaped your life in some way. This is partly true because it is rammed into you from an early age (at least it was in my youth) You were forced to listen to teachers and to attend services. Thankfully they could only force you to attend in body and the mind was free to choose what to believe.

There are people who believe in God and people who do not. There are people who believe in Santa and people who do not. A mannie coming down every chimney in the land on one night or a mannie in the sky who controls everything in the Universe. One image we grow up to let go of yet the other lingers on for many. I have no problem with that, other than the fact that I think it is better for us to accept responsibility for what we do here in the real world, rather than have fanciful ideas about what awaits in any supposed other dimension.

[EDDIE]

Yes scorrie history does tells us that there has been a lot of problems caused through religous beliefs and thats why we need to educate people to respect other peoples beliefs and we cant change history but we can change the future over time

[katarina]

Good on you Brandy! Never back down on what you believe. If more people brought up their children with the values of christianity the world would be a better place.

[jjc]

If more people brought up their children with the values of christianity the world would be a better place.

Tolerance of religion so long as it's your religion then Katarina?

[scorrie]

Good on you Brandy! Never back down on what you believe. If more people brought up their children with the values of christianity the world would be a better place.

I don't agree at all with this statement. There is no evidence to support it at all. I believe we would be far better accepting that we are responsible for the things we do here and that we will be judged by others on the way that we conduct ourselves and not by some imaginary being. Society moves on and we are a more sophisticated race than the days when people were sacrificed to appease "Gods"

The human race moves on but religion is stuck in the dark ages, religion divides, as well as unites, the population of this planet.

I am an atheist and I bring up my children using common sense about what is right and wrong. Comments I receive from teachers and people in general tell me I am doing a good job in showing my kids how to conduct themselves in the modern world. Your statement that it would be better if I taught them Christian values is nonsense and insulting to all other non-religious people who have families. Typical religious narrow-mindedness!!

[sids]

Just turn the other cheek, then off! Ha ha.

[monkey]

I am an atheist...

I admire you for your faith. To know that there is no God requires more faith than one who believes there is a God. I hope you've thought it through well enough to be right. It would be unpleasant to have spent your whole life knowing there is no God, only to find out at the end that... oops, there IS a God, and those Christians were right all along.

I bring up my children using common sense about what is right and wrong.

Good for you. What would you do if one of them came home one evening and said he/she had met some friends and had been "saved?" Would you genuinely support your child in his/her belief, or would you attempt to impose your "common sense" on them to recant their recent conversion?

I've read a lot of partisanship in this thread. Regardless of what you believe though, the truth is still the truth, and none of us will have first-hand experience of that truth until it's too late to come back (unless of course you're a Buddhist ).

I am content with my belief system, but I know that it's a struggle to accept loved ones who believe differently. Makes us all realize just how open-minded we really aren't sometimes.

[hereboy]

I don't agree at all with this statement. ...Your statement that it would be better if I taught them Christian values is nonsense and insulting to all other non-religious people who have families. Typical religious narrow-mindedness!!

Scorrie, Katarina said values of christianity not Christian values there is a subtle difference....

many people who are not Christian still live their lives in accordance with values that are the same as some of those values of christianity.

I guess atheists just accept the values of christianity that resonate best with them and then just ditch the ones that are contradictory or don't make sense. Its not coincidental that good people share the same values. Enlightened souls like yourself can obviously separate the wheat from the chaff.

As far as the bible goes, its not the bits I don't understand that trouble me, its the bits I do understand that trouble me. But I still have values that a lot of Christians and non Christians could identify with.

And if you are an atheist, power to you - its your God given right

[Rheghead]

the truth is still the truth.

Are you quite sure about that?

Your truth may not be my truth but they may still be the truth. It depends on how you see what truth is.

[katarina]

Tolerance of religion so long as it's your religion then Katarina?

Not at all. Many none christians can and do live by the same values. Note I said VALUES. I believe by previous posts (maybe I'm wrong) but brandy is catholic. As it so happens this is not my religion. so what's your point?