Foul the Christian

[Plissken]

Fine. I didn't want to be in your stupid old club anyways!

(Please let me in...)

[Fist and Faith]

*sigh*




...




...




Oh, alright. But you gotta bring a shrubbery.

[The Laughing Man]

who is going to water the shrubbery?

[The Leper Fairy]

who is going to water the shrubbery?

I'll do it for cookies!

[Fist and Faith]

I think you need to add on to your sig, Claire.

[Avatar]

Well well...not sure what to say here. On the one hand, of course you're free to claim any faith that you want. On the other, that's exactly what it'll be...claiming faith.

I think that on the whole, I'm with SunBaneGlasses on this. Of course, I'm of the firm opinion that you should never be reluctant to say what you do or do not believe, regardless of what people's opinions of you afterwards are.

Fists idea about the UU sounds a good one.

While community may or may not be an important issue, (it's one that is, I suppose, as subjective as any other, and I've never been a community type person), I'd think that joing such a community under what are essentially false premises, especially a community whose very reason for existance is the premise that you don't share, is disingenious at best, not to mention self-deceiving in a way.

Being true to yourself is always the important thing I think, however difficult it may sometimes be.

Of course, I could take another tack entirely and say that there's nothing wrong with taking the path of least resistance, the couch rather than the arena. That manipulating a system for your own purposes is acceptable as well, because why shouldn't it be?

But who are you really fooling?

People who (if I've got this community thing understood), wouldn't like you or accept you if you weren't what they thought you were? And this is the community that you want to be part of?

Join a community who accepts you, not your "faith" or whatever.

--Avatar

[caamora]

Interesting, LF.

What I find most interesting is that with all the different groups that LF could joing, he chose to join one of spirituality rather than just a social one.

I have some advice, LF: Choose wisely. If it is a church you want, look around a little and join one that you feel comfortable with. Nothing is worse than going to a church that you don't like.

Also, never think that you won't learn anything. Even if you are athiest, you will be able to discuss theology with priests/pastors that will be very well versed and educated on these subjects. You will learn a lot.

[[Syl]]

Or you could be a Universal Unitarian. They take everybody, even atheists. I don't think I've ever seen a church of theirs, though.

[Fist and Faith]

Or you could be a Universal Unitarian. They take everybody, even atheists. I don't think I've ever seen a church of theirs, though.

Excellent idea, Syl!!!



heh

[Plissken]

Is that like Foursquare? We've got a few of those around here...

[Prebe]

If you choose to join organised religion for reasons of community, be aware that they can take away your atheism. Even if you consider yourself a true atheists, educated priests have nasty oblique ways of convincing even the most logical minds And if the church you choose also bakes good cookies, and if it has babes, that you can only dream of when you'r on the outside, well......

First you get down on your knees
Fiddle with your rosaries
Bow your head with great respect
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect

Do whatever steps you want if
You have cleared them with the Pontiff
Everybody say his own kyrie eleison
Doin' the Vatican Rag

Get in line in that processional
Step into that small confessional
There, the guy who's got religion'll
Tell you if your sin's original

If it is, try playin' it safer
Drink the wine and chew the wafer
Two, four, six, eight
Time to transubstantiate

So get down upon your knees
Fiddle with your rosaries
Bow your head with great respect
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect

Make a cross on your abdomen
When in Rome do like a Roman
Ave Maria, gee it's good to see ya
Gettin' ecstatic an' sorta dramatic an'
Doin' the Vatican Rag

[Furls Fire]

*smiles at David*

I have to wonder my friend...is your athiesm really that strong? I only ask because, in your search for community your first choice was to embrace the one Jesus began.

[Worm of Despite]

Well, I never believe any aspect of me is strong, except my lust for good food! I suppose everything about me is in flux, and I wouldn't have it any other way. One day I want to remain an atheist, the next I want to be an anchoress, ala Julian of Norwich.

But joking aside: it is indeed strange, Furls (and Caam), that I first looked toward Christianity. But really though, what else is there in these parts? I live in the Bible Belt; I'm going to a Southern Baptist college. I can disavow my past with Christianity as easy as night to day, but I can't deny that fact that I've been inundated with it since birth.

I look at places--other congregations--that atheists would comfortably uphold their beliefs in, and I don't see any attraction. Again, maybe it's because I grew up in the South. Maybe it's that I like to think I'm a devout, disciplined person that would thrive in a tight knit regiment of practices/rituals. Maybe I have a deep love for my fellow countrymen, and they're mostly all Christian, and I want to connect with them on the highest possible level. I dunno.

Maybe one day I will honestly believe in God. Now is not the time, nor the foreseeable future. Walt Whitman once said, "I am multitudes," or something like that. Maybe I already believe in God. Maybe I'm pulling a Philip K. Dick and having crazy delusions. Heh.

[Fist and Faith]

Well, I never believe any aspect of me is strong, except my lust for good food!

AMEN!!!!!

Maybe it's that I like to think I'm a devout, disciplined person that would thrive in a tight knit regiment of practices/rituals.

That's my least favorite aspect of any organized religion. Not even Jung or Northern Exposure's Chris make such things attractive to me, even if I like how they view them.

[Worm of Despite]

Well, I never believe any aspect of me is strong, except my lust for good food!

AMEN!!!!!

Maybe it's that I like to think I'm a devout, disciplined person that would thrive in a tight knit regiment of practices/rituals.

That's my least favorite aspect of any organized religion. Not even Jung or Northern Exposure's Chris make such things attractive to me, even if I like how they view them.

I guess it's this masochistic quality I've always had. Get this: I actually felt depressed during middle school because I wasn't in any sport. Not because I liked sports--I was terrible at them. I felt that I needed an imposed harshness in my life. I wanted something that whetted me, disciplined me. It wasn't a matter of a hardship; it was cleansing.

The closest thing I can come to describing it in everyday life is the dietary laws of the Jews. Or, more personally: my obsessive compulsive disorder with neatness (nothing ever gets messy in my room, ever). I used to mop my mom's kitchen in 7th grade, heh. Same goes for jogging: I miss a day of jogging for some reason, and I feel truly, deeply wrong inside. It's weird; I should probably be easier on myself, but I've always felt this urge to cast things off. Best example of this in film would be DeNiro's character in Raging Bull, who would punish himself deliberately, in order to keep himself "hardened." Anyway, more fun exploring Foul’s head. Heh.

Speaking of food: my mom traded ice cream with me at Bruster's today, because hers looked so much better. Let me tell you--it was chocolate pecan with chocolate syrup on it. So freaking rich I was floating in the air.

[Lord Mhoram]

Furls,

I have to wonder my friend...is your athiesm really that strong? I only ask because, in your search for community your first choice was to embrace the one Jesus began

Um, like Foul said, he lives in the American South. The (vast) majority of the people he knows are going to be Christian.

[Furls Fire]

Yes, I read and understood his answer to my question.

Where I live, most people I know are also Christain like myself. But there are also many I know who are of different faiths and beliefs. All have their "communities" or "congregations" if you will. Some don't belong to any "organized" group at all. I don't go to church (many may be surprised by that) but I do belong to local charity groups and of course my AmFAR group.

I know a bit about the Bible Belt. Isaiah was from there, and the 'Christains' I heard about from him are reprehensible to me. They shunned him, humiliated him, forcefed him fire and brimstone, until he was absolutely convinced that God hated him and that he would burn in hell for eternity. That kind of "Christainity" is NOT the faith in which I believe in. Mine comes from Jesus Christ Himself, not from some distortion of His Word. Granted, I understand that not ALL in the Bible Belt are like those who Isaiah was brought up with, that kind of generlization is something I don't do, but I worry about David joining, because if by some remote chance he finds himself in such a church, they will not be very "charitable" if they discover his athiesm.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is this...please be careful out there among them, David.

[Worm of Despite]

Ah, don't worry, Furls. I'm a hardened vet. I even have the drawl down-pat.

[Lord Mhoram]

Furls Fire,

Yes, I read and understood his answer to my question.

Well, really what I was replying to was what I felt was a condescending "I knew you'd do it, Christianity is for everyone" kind of attitude that I see so rampant among many Christians.

[Fist and Faith]

Where are my manners!! I'm sorry, I didn't realize you hadn't met. Lord Mhoram, I'd like to introduce you to Furls Fire.