Controversial Religious Opinion.
A few weeks ago, one of my closest friends told me that I was a contributory factor in his continued atheism. An interventionist god, he reasoned, would not allow shit things to persistently happen to me, being as I am, apparently, nice and fluffy and mostly harmless. My counter theory, ever so slightly tongue in cheek, was that it was because of
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Yeah, but whether our hair is black and shiny or flourescent wool; whether we dress in PVC or rubber or combat trousers; whatever we listen to, we're all going to hell.... ;-)
Re - The first group: Perhaps I did generalise a little too much. I was actually thinking of two particular people, one a friend of mine and one a friend of my mothers. They are both Catholics, and both highly intelligent. Both were born into Catholic families and when they each reached the age of reason, they were able to think it through without serious pressure to conform, and both decided that the moral and theological code of Catholicism was one by which they could comfortably live. They are both married to non catholics, my mothers friend I believe to a non Christian. My mothers friends have three children, the eldest of whom is a priest and the other two (30 and 28) have no particular religious leanings either way.
I personally don't agree with Catholicism, and accept that as a belief system it is riddled with dubious prejudices and dogma. However, I'm quite certain that these two individuals are less than comfortable with the way I choose to live my life. The fact is, they are confident enough in their own beliefs, as I am in mine, to allow us to remain good friends without the issue of anyone trying to convert anyone else.
I singled out Catholicism because, obviously, it is the oldest form of Western Christianity. Few would disagree that the younger a particular religion is, the more volatile and fundamentalist its believers are (the Israeli conflict being the obvious example of an exception to this rule, although it would be foolish to suggest that that is more about religion than politics and acquisition). I think thats also true within religions. It was probably naive of me to ignore the issue of generations of mormons/Plymouth Brethren/Jehova's Witnesses/(Insert name of ideologicaly dubious splinter group here). Then again, you could probably fit many of them under my third category anyway.
The Christianity issues here seem to be a distraction from the real point which is that you are unhappy and want the emotional buffer of belief and epiphany and subsequent new start that born again Christiany provides,
Well spotted. I didn't intend to pretend otherwise. I had to dismiss the first two groups of Christians first as a sort of disclaimer. That's why I haven't addressed the issue of generations of brainwashed children, or whatever. Its not really relevant to what I was trying to say. I just didn't want to start a flame war amongst people who might misinterpret what I wrote as a blanket attack on Christianity in general.
I do have a genuine curiosity. I want to know how low you have to get before 'god' reveals him/her/itself to you, because I'm pretty sure I couldn't get any lower than certain moments during the past three years. I do envy them their emotional buffer, yes. But surely an emotional buffer works both ways, and if it numbs the pain of the lows, then logically it must take the edge off the highs too.
Hehe. So much for thought provoking discussion.
No, thank you for your response. Every so often I need to put my mind through an MOT just to prove it still works.
...These people are seeking something, absolution, fulfillment, christianity provides that...and by them evangelising, they effectively fulfill their own needs. It's more for their benefit than their convertees
You're spot on with your last point, I have been trying to think of a concise way to express that for ages. Its as if they are so uncertain of the sitruation they've got themselves into that they need to re-inforce their own beliefs by imposing them on anyone who'll liste, not to mention a fair few who couldn't give a toss!
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