I am a religious minority. I am still coming to terms with what that means, both personally and in the larger world. I cannot celebrate in my preferred manner-- the only holiday I celebrate, for personal reasons, is the Winter Solstice-- because I live at home. I cannot stop celebrating Christmas, even though I feel uncomfortable with even a secular version, for the same reason. I, too, am one of the “sensitive” people.
I am an agnostic-leaning Deist. I believe in God. When people (face-to-face, not online) talk about God, they assume that because I believe in God, I believe in their God. I don’t-- their God is the Christian God, which includes belief in the divinity of Jesus/the Trinity. It's why I feel uncomfortable with so-called non-denominational prayer, because it's assumed that the speaker's god is everyone's god (and the unspoken everyone's god is the mainstream Protestant version
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I remember that conversation we had as well. :) I was thinking about it when I posted this, as you were one of the handful of my flist to whom I'd talked about the full extent of my spiritual beliefs prior to this.
The difficulty is compounded by the fact that Deist is a broad category of beliefs, and one Deist cannot speak for all.
The same complication exists in Druidry, as the one term can describe completely different belief systems. And within the organization I belong to, personal belief (or lack of belief) is always respected and key, so even within this one organization, "Druids" are also Christians, Pagans, Jews, Mormons ... or non-theists, like me. :)
I'm not going to hide.
I admire you for this. This was my first time posting about some of these things. I was nervous. I woke up this morning thinking, "Crap, I actually did post that LJ/DW entry! (which took a few days to write, giving me plenty of time to think of the wisdom of it) and probably have all manner of hairy comments in my email right now!" I've been
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Anyway, I arrived at the feast just in time for the prayer. I had no problem with the prayer; if people wanted to exercise their private beliefs, I would not stop them. But they literally grabbed and dragged me into the circle with them and held me by the hands while they prayed.What's sad here is that they not only assumed you were one with their beliefs, but that they were being nice and kind by including you. Some Christians tend to overdo this sort of thing
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What's sad here is that they not only assumed you were one with their beliefs, but that they were being nice and kind by including you. Some Christians tend to overdo this sort of thing.
And what if it happens the other way around? Beltain Bonfire or Litha celebration? Folks get carried away and drag a Christian into the dance... I do not believe that they will take that for granted.
I once followed a discussion where a man who belonged to a minority, however once someone prayed for his salvation, he panicked and kept on asking this person not to do that because his own soul was put at risk if they did that for him. Yet his pleas were ignored and this person insisted on praying because oh he was led astray, so they prayed harder for him.
This is what I find quite scary to be honest, that objections of a person is brushed aside like that.
I visit a church from time to time. Not because I am a Christian, but more that I do know that what I believe in has many faces and is always present, especially there.
:) I've felt a little guilty about not putting that post up, but I figured it was better to get things right rather than risk insulting people. (And at that point, I would have. I don't want to hurt people.)
And within the organization I belong to, personal belief (or lack of belief) is always respected and key
Deism doesn't even have an organization. There are two "arms" online-- one that focuses on the beliefs of Deism itself-- and the militant arm, which has basically declared war on revealed/organized religion and is rather intolerant. (Which makes me a bit wary about saying I'm a Deist, to be honest. I don't want to be associated with them.)
I admire you for this.*blushes* Thank you. There's a part of me that wants to say "it's nothing" but that isn't the truth. I'm lucky. I've always been open about my religious beliefs, and never really considered that I shouldn't be until after I left the Church. I figure that if someone is that bothered by my religion then I don't want to be friends with them, and as it goes, my form of
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I am an agnostic-leaning Deist. I believe in God. When people (face-to-face, not online) talk about God, they assume that because I believe in God, I believe in their God. I don’t-- their God is the Christian God, which includes belief in the divinity of Jesus/the Trinity. It's why I feel uncomfortable with so-called non-denominational prayer, because it's assumed that the speaker's god is everyone's god (and the unspoken everyone's god is the mainstream Protestant version ( ... )
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The difficulty is compounded by the fact that Deist is a broad category of beliefs, and one Deist cannot speak for all.
The same complication exists in Druidry, as the one term can describe completely different belief systems. And within the organization I belong to, personal belief (or lack of belief) is always respected and key, so even within this one organization, "Druids" are also Christians, Pagans, Jews, Mormons ... or non-theists, like me. :)
I'm not going to hide.
I admire you for this. This was my first time posting about some of these things. I was nervous. I woke up this morning thinking, "Crap, I actually did post that LJ/DW entry! (which took a few days to write, giving me plenty of time to think of the wisdom of it) and probably have all manner of hairy comments in my email right now!" I've been ( ... )
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And what if it happens the other way around? Beltain Bonfire or Litha celebration? Folks get carried away and drag a Christian into the dance... I do not believe that they will take that for granted.
I once followed a discussion where a man who belonged to a minority, however once someone prayed for his salvation, he panicked and kept on asking this person not to do that because his own soul was put at risk if they did that for him. Yet his pleas were ignored and this person insisted on praying because oh he was led astray, so they prayed harder for him.
This is what I find quite scary to be honest, that objections of a person is brushed aside like that.
I visit a church from time to time. Not because I am a Christian, but more that I do know that what I believe in has many faces and is always present, especially there.
Reply
And within the organization I belong to, personal belief (or lack of belief) is always respected and key
Deism doesn't even have an organization. There are two "arms" online-- one that focuses on the beliefs of Deism itself-- and the militant arm, which has basically declared war on revealed/organized religion and is rather intolerant. (Which makes me a bit wary about saying I'm a Deist, to be honest. I don't want to be associated with them.)
I admire you for this.*blushes* Thank you. There's a part of me that wants to say "it's nothing" but that isn't the truth. I'm lucky. I've always been open about my religious beliefs, and never really considered that I shouldn't be until after I left the Church. I figure that if someone is that bothered by my religion then I don't want to be friends with them, and as it goes, my form of ( ... )
Reply
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