Are You At Odds With . . .

[Mephisto]

. . . your family because of your skepticism of religion?

I was raised staunch Catholic, and didn't actually quit believing in fairy tales until my late twenties. I suppose it took that long for me to realize that I was "spinning my wheels."

Since that time, I've been at odds with the my mother's family who have been mainlining Catholicism for two generations (and STILL don't know what it's about). I'm quietly snubbed a family get-togethers, ignored at funerals and not invited to weddings.

I've thought about this a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that I would be at odds with my family had they been Hindus, Protestants, Satanists or any other religion that required "faith" to make sense.

My question is, how many of you suffer the same consequences for your beliefs or your skepticism? Comments from everyone are appreciated, but especially if you're a X-tian fundie whose parents are Atheists, or your parents are Southern Baptist and you now worship an obscure Peruvian mud-god. Thanks.

Mephisto

 

[The GM]

My question is, how many of you suffer the same consequences for your beliefs or your skepticism? Comments from everyone are appreciated, but especially if you're a X-tian fundie whose parents are Atheists, or your parents are Southern Baptist and you now worship an obscure Peruvian mud-god. Thanks.

Mephisto [/B]

Well, I don't worship Streculous, Roman god of Feces or anything like that. But I was raised in a Southern Baptist church and don't follow the party line. I guess, in reality, I never did. Even as a small child, it never quite made sense and I thought it was scary stuff.
I am not snubbed, by any means. I do get preached at a fair amount though. That can get tiresome. Benny Hinn is a staple on the TV. So I mock him incecently until my mom gets tired of listening to my bitching and changes the channel. If there's a choice log for the flames of Hell, that guy is it.

Anyway, we don't agree on philisophical matters, but no, I am not snubbed.

 

[Mephisto]

Benny Hinn is the Anti-Christ!

I recently saw a documentary on Benny Hinn (looked like it was from around the mid-nineties), and I'm amazed at what that guy gets away with. The greatest danger of faith in Benny Hinn is fact that many of those who were "healed" went off their particular medications, usually with disasterous results.

If there is a Hell, I'd like to believe that there is a special place for people like Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and Benny Hinn.

My family doesn't preach to me much since I can usually run rings around their circular logic. An aunt once told me, "I don't know what they teach you in college to turn you away from the church!" I'm sure she didn't expect my answer, "history, and how to ask questions."

They've found it's much easier to snub me.

 

[Mephisto]

Re: Re: Are You At Odds With . . .

Well, I don't worship Streculous, Roman god of Feces or anything like that.

 

[apoger]

Sadly, my family wastes quaility time fretting over their belief that my soul will suffer an eternity of torture in hell.

 

[Piscivore]

I reacently found myself at odds with my parents and my aunt, but not over religion.

I took my daughter to the doctor about a rash she had on her abdomen (this is a frequent occurence, her skin is very sensitive), and while there she and I were asked if she would participate in a study to help get a new herpes vaccine approved. This final study would be to confirm the side affects, which are more-or-less thought to be limited to soreness at the injection site and slight nausea. I thought this would be an exciting opportunity for her to make a difference, to help, in her own small way, to advance science. She thought this would be an easy way for her to earn $138 and signifigantly boost the coolness factor of her "What I Did on My Summer Break" report, especially as the week before her brother had had his appendix out, and was thusfar way ahead of the game.

My 'rents went "Lone Gunmen" on me:

"She'll get herpes!"
"You can't inject her with 'foreign substances'!"
"This is just like those syphilis experiments they did on blacks!"
"How do you know she won't get mutated or something?"
"Well, there's this whole controversy about vaccinations, anyway..."
"You can't do this to our baby!"

These are all quotes, from the people who raised me to value science and reason. My aunt was a nurse, during the whole Dr. Salk era, no less.

ETA: Oh, the girl was disqualified. Part of the protocol was that a third of the subjects would get an already-approved (and very similar) Hep-A shot (the others got the test vax or a placebo), and since she'd already had the Hep-A shot in '99 she wasn't eligible. Which I found ironic- the parents most likely to agree to the testing would have already disqualified their daughters by properly vaccinating them.

 

[cbish]

I was also raised Catholic. Eight years of Catholic school, CCD, church every sunday and more. The whole nine yards. I remember sitting in the pew in about the 2nd or 3rd grade thinking, " what a bunch of crap"! I quit going when I left home. None of my sibblings are practicing either. For about ten years, once a year, my mother would write all of us a letter outlining all the disappointments we incurred on her. One was always the church thing (among others). That has since stopped. I don't think my dad even goes anymore.

Worse than that, however, my wife's family is terminally Mormon. Of 50-60 grandchildren on her paternal side, my wife is the only non practicing mormon. We are the only one's not married in the temple. This has caused stress. Slowly, over time, we've been able to "let on" that our life style is a little different than theirs. I have plenty of stories. We have a potential conflict coming up; our oldest son is now eight years old which makes him age eligible for baptism. So far, nothing has come up, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

 

[arthwollipot]

Nah - my family is apathist. They didn't much care when I joined a church, and didn't much care when I gave it up.

 

[Mephisto]

Mine too

Sadly, my family wastes quaility time fretting over their belief that my soul will suffer an eternity of torture in hell.

Mine too, apoger. They are too concerned that they'll be guilty by association to reach across the wide divide between us. It's a shame that some religions draw the line so dramatically. An institution that is supposedly family-based has probably served to break apart more families than most will admit.

 

[Ladewig]

Are You At Odds With . . .
. . . your family because of your skepticism of religion?

Not as much as I am at odds with people who write confusingly short thread titles.

Please write more descriptive titles so that people who slow connections can decide whether or not to open threads.

 

[Mephisto]

These are all quotes, from the people who raised me to value science and reason. My aunt was a nurse, during the whole Dr. Salk era, no less.

Piscivore,

I hope your daughter gets better soon, and I hope your son's operation goes as planned.

Is your family making these assumptions based on religion? Just wondering because my wife is also a critical-care nurse (ICU) and she certainly experiences enough religion-based biased among her patients and their families. There are such a bevy of those biases that there is a chaplain on 24 hour call at the hospital where she works, just to consult with families about their beliefs with regards to likely medical treatments. God wouldn't want Jehovah's Witnesses to accidently get a life-saving blood transfusion, X-tian fundie "snake-handlers" to get an anti-venom or a Catholic to get a condom, now would we?

 

[Ryokan]

God wouldn't want Jehovah's Witnesses to accidently get a life-saving blood transfusion, X-tian fundie "snake-handlers" to get an anti-venom or a Catholic to get a condom, now would we?

Man... When you put it like that, it doesn't sound like such a bad thing

(except if it's their kids, of course)

 

[Mephisto]

We have a potential conflict coming up; our oldest son is now eight years old which makes him age eligible for baptism. So far, nothing has come up, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I think I was about that young when I realized that these people (the priests) were pulling the wool over my legs. I still remember my first confession, the priest was a jerk who didn't hide his disgust at my horrible sins (how horrible can your sins be at that age?). He later ran off with a MARRIED church lady to live in sin.

The potential conflict caused by baptism is always significant. I suffered the same ordeal with my son. My ultra-Catholic mother even "baptized" my son in an impromptu ceremony that left me pretty angry. She had even gotten the okay from her parish priest, who told her that a priest wasn't necessary for baptism. I actually agreed with him, and went on to assert that a priest isn't necessary PERIOD.

Good luck with the upcoming tribulation.

 

[Mephisto]

Sounds like a nice family!

Nah - my family is apathist. They didn't much care when I joined a church, and didn't much care when I gave it up.

Be thankful for your apathist family, arthwollipot. I know you once mentioned having come full circle in your faith. I wonder if you've ever read, "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer? It's a really insightful look into mass movements and how people think. Hoffer even asserts that it's easier for a devotee of any faith to swing 180° in belief than it is for the same devotee to choose the middle of the road. It's a pretty scary look into the eyes of a fanatic.

 

[Mephisto]

Curiousity Killed the Cat!

Not as much as I am at odds with people who write confusingly short thread titles.

Please write more descriptive titles so that people who slow connections can decide whether or not to open threads.

The whole idea behind the thread title was to arouse your curiousity, which it apparently did. Am I at fault, or did your curiousity get the better of you?

How would you have titled it?

"Does your family hate you because you think their religion is stupid?"

"Are you the black sheep in your fundie-family?"

"One Way Ticket to Hell, and Your Family is Not Going"

"Is Your Family Enlightened, But You Don't Have A Clue?"

I may be mistaken, but there is a limit on characters in the thread title, I simply didn't want to think it out. Sorry about your slow connection, but I think the whole JREF site is typically slow at this time of day.

 

[Piscivore]

Piscivore,

I hope your daughter gets better soon, and I hope your son's operation goes as planned.

Thanks. The rash is almost gone and the surgery went like clockwork. He's already good as new. Thanks, science!

Is your family making these assumptions based on religion?

Not to my knowledge. I was brought up in a very casual and milquetoast Methodist congregation. We attended sporadically, and there was rarely any overt religious activity in my home- no mealtime or bedtime prayers, no family bible readings, etc. Even at holidays the Jesus factor was minimal- Easter was probably the most "holy" we ever got, and that was mostly my Grandmother's doing. I read the entire 1966 edition of World Book Encyclopedia before I got much Sunday School.

But, the 'rents are over 60 now, so maybe they are getting scared. They still don't go to church much AFAIK.

Just wondering because my wife is also a critical-care nurse (ICU) and she certainly experiences enough religion-based biased among her patients and their families. There are such a bevy of those biases that there is a chaplain on 24 hour call at the hospital where she works, just to consult with families about their beliefs with regards to likely medical treatments. God wouldn't want Jehovah's Witnesses to accidently get a life-saving blood transfusion, X-tian fundie "snake-handlers" to get an anti-venom or a Catholic to get a condom, now would we?

Heh.

It irked me that there were several unoccupied "Clergy" spaces in front of the hospital. I almost used one, but I didn't think that the traffic court would accept my Discordian Papacy as valid.

 

[Gestahl]

Since that time, I've been at odds with the my mother's family who have been mainlining Catholicism for two generations

Is Catholicism a new kind of heroin or something?

Heroin is one hell of a drug... no wonder they are a little "off"...

*smirk*

 

[arthwollipot]

Re: Sounds like a nice family!

Be thankful for your apathist family, arthwollipot. I know you once mentioned having come full circle in your faith. I wonder if you've ever read, "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer? It's a really insightful look into mass movements and how people think. Hoffer even asserts that it's easier for a devotee of any faith to swing 180° in belief than it is for the same devotee to choose the middle of the road. It's a pretty scary look into the eyes of a fanatic.

No, I've never read that one. I do, however, have a book called "The True Believers" (can't remember the name of the author right now) which is all about the more bizarre aspects and practices of various religions. It's quite funny.

 

[Mephisto]

Just Say No!

Is Catholicism a new kind of heroin or something?

Heroin is one hell of a drug... no wonder they are a little "off"...

*smirk*

Religion IS the opiate of the masses.


They are a "little off." They actually believe they're going to hell if they miss their "fix" on Sunday!

 

[Gestahl]

Re: Just Say No!

Religion IS the opiate of the masses.


They are a "little off." They actually believe they're going to hell if they miss their "fix" on Sunday!

Damn addictions... they get you every time. Remember, the first communion is free...