"Im Catholic; but don't judge me because I don't agree with anything that Catholics normally purport to believe in." So you support an organization that actively tries to deny you rights and are offended that people assume you have the qualities that typify the group. The point is that you don't know anything about my religious beliefs for certain if I call myself Catholic. Obviously I don't disagree with everything in the Church and the fundamental belief is something I at least agree with or don't disagree with enough or I'd not be a Catholic -- I'm fortunate enough that in my country I can make this choice. The thing is, any member of a religion does not follow every tenent of their faith, if only out of practicality. This is just more obvious when you're Catholic because of papal infallability. It goes from being an interpretation of the Holy Word to being... not quite in communion with the church which is sort of a big deal. And that's kind of an issue when talking about parts of the socio-political structure of the church not necessarily being perfect, and a bigger deal if you say "Well I want to change X in the church." Which isn't impossible, even in Catholicism, it's just a very very difficult task.
There is a huge difference between saying "Oh you're Catholic so I assume you're pro-life" and saying "Why are you Catholic? You're being oppressed. Why don't you see that? You should leave your religion." I'm not offended if people assume I agree with tenents of my religion. I'm offended that people assume I can't see that a socio-political structure might have flaws. I'm offended when people assume they know what's best for me religion-wise. As are you, I'm sure, when people tell you to start going to Church or else you're going to hell.
And I do want to point out that it's not just athiests who seem to feel this way. Athiests are more likely to say "Well all religion is bad for you," since they don't belong to a religion so realistically the only people saying "all religions = bad" would probably be athiests (and I'm sure a vast minority of athiests would actually say such a thing, especially unprompted!), but you get religious people saying "X other religion is bad so you should leave it" too, so if my post came out as calling out athiests specifically I didn't mean to. I should have worded it better.
And of course the topic's not tabboo; I quote: It's fine to criticize patriarchy in religion. It's fine to look at something and say "That's oppression!" in religion or out of it. Where you cross the line is suggesting that I can't see that, and that you know what's best for me. If I'm making a mistake, it's mine to make. If I'm doing what works for me? Let me do it.
"Where you cross the line is suggesting that I can't see that, and that you know what's best for me."
I'm actually not offended when people tell me that I should go to church, I ask them to provide a rational reason that might provide a view I haven't seen before. Being as I assume the people I'd be talking to are interested in my well being I'm ok with accepting that I might have missed something that they've seen. As of now no one has been able to provide a valid argument.
My point is that I don't think its an offense if someone questions how you live your life, if done in a respectful manner. Everyone living in blind acceptance of other peoples mistakes is how a lot of the terrible things in the world have come about. People can and do learn through others wisdom, and we should encourage the sharing of that wisdom. Not condemn it for being offensive.
The point is that you don't know anything about my religious beliefs for certain if I call myself Catholic. Obviously I don't disagree with everything in the Church and the fundamental belief is something I at least agree with or don't disagree with enough or I'd not be a Catholic -- I'm fortunate enough that in my country I can make this choice. The thing is, any member of a religion does not follow every tenent of their faith, if only out of practicality. This is just more obvious when you're Catholic because of papal infallability. It goes from being an interpretation of the Holy Word to being... not quite in communion with the church which is sort of a big deal. And that's kind of an issue when talking about parts of the socio-political structure of the church not necessarily being perfect, and a bigger deal if you say "Well I want to change X in the church." Which isn't impossible, even in Catholicism, it's just a very very difficult task.
There is a huge difference between saying "Oh you're Catholic so I assume you're pro-life" and saying "Why are you Catholic? You're being oppressed. Why don't you see that? You should leave your religion." I'm not offended if people assume I agree with tenents of my religion. I'm offended that people assume I can't see that a socio-political structure might have flaws. I'm offended when people assume they know what's best for me religion-wise. As are you, I'm sure, when people tell you to start going to Church or else you're going to hell.
And I do want to point out that it's not just athiests who seem to feel this way. Athiests are more likely to say "Well all religion is bad for you," since they don't belong to a religion so realistically the only people saying "all religions = bad" would probably be athiests (and I'm sure a vast minority of athiests would actually say such a thing, especially unprompted!), but you get religious people saying "X other religion is bad so you should leave it" too, so if my post came out as calling out athiests specifically I didn't mean to. I should have worded it better.
And of course the topic's not tabboo; I quote:
It's fine to criticize patriarchy in religion. It's fine to look at something and say "That's oppression!" in religion or out of it. Where you cross the line is suggesting that I can't see that, and that you know what's best for me. If I'm making a mistake, it's mine to make. If I'm doing what works for me? Let me do it.
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I'm actually not offended when people tell me that I should go to church, I ask them to provide a rational reason that might provide a view I haven't seen before. Being as I assume the people I'd be talking to are interested in my well being I'm ok with accepting that I might have missed something that they've seen. As of now no one has been able to provide a valid argument.
My point is that I don't think its an offense if someone questions how you live your life, if done in a respectful manner. Everyone living in blind acceptance of other peoples mistakes is how a lot of the terrible things in the world have come about. People can and do learn through others wisdom, and we should encourage the sharing of that wisdom. Not condemn it for being offensive.
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My problem is the "I know better than you" idea. Not the "Well have you considered this?" idea.
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