Its perfectly acceptable to be rude to religous people...

[startrek90]

Definately going to get flamed here but oh well.

I get the feeling that this is perfectly acceptable to be rude about religous people. From reading the threads on this forum, and my experiences in RL, the amount of rudeness and sometimes plain nastiness is awful.

I am religous. I don't care if people are not, if they go to church or how they live their own lives or raise their children. As far as I am concerned as long as you obey the law, do what you want.

So far I have seen people imply that all religous people are closing their childrens mind, are ignorant, bigots.... its horrible!

I don't deny that there are people who are that way and use religion as an excuse.... but quite frankly you can be ignorant and rude without religion.

I am being unreasonable to be offended, but it really bothers me that its culturally acceptable to be rude to and about people of faith. You wouldn't do it to someone from a different culture or race would you? I have never bothered anyone with my faith so please stop taking it as an insult!

(Just venting, been lambasted in RL for daring to buy my son a Noahs ark toy. I thought it was cute with all the animals etc... but apparently I am raising him to be ignorant, bigoted and stupid. He will hate gay people and women and generally be a horrible person.....apparently grrr )

You think this thread has a parallel with a debating club?
I think it is far more like a school playground.
Like the school playground nothing is going to make you admit that a phrase someone finds rude is best avoided - you will argue for ever that it is fully justified. I would take the kind option.

Yes merry because I believe God blesses. Everything good that has happen to me I believe is by His blessing.

Oh. So your god is punishing my child for having parents who don't believe in him/her/it?

That's the logical extension of using these words in response to merry - there is no other way to interpret it.

We will have to agree to disagree. I am in favour of equality and against privilege and unfairness; I had thought most Christians shared those values (although I haven't been Christian for years, so perhaps things have changed?). I am surprised and sad to find a Christian embracing inequality in this way, it is not what I was taught at Catechism.

No, Jassy God's blessings are there for anyone who will accept them. An analogy would be trying to give a gift to someone who would not take it. Wouldn't work would it?

No, Jassy God's blessings are there for anyone who will accept them. An analogy would be trying to give a gift to someone who would not take it. Wouldn't work would it?

Where have I said I embrace inequality merry? You lay on clear disapproval but do not explain why.

"Like the school playground nothing is going to make you admit that a phrase someone finds rude is best avoided - you will argue for ever that it is fully justified. I would take the kind option."

You do know that I didn't say anything of the sort, don't you? You absolutely made that up- I have no idea why!

You also do know that I haven't said anything that anyone has though of as rudeon this thread, don't you?

Merry asked you if you felt you had earned special privileges by accepting God's blessings. You responded yes.

So on that basis, you feel you have earned privileges that others do not have. Which is, yes, embracing inequality.

Oh, actually,I take that back. I was probably a bit rude to capsium. But I defy anyone not actually a saint not to be. And you can probably guess how I feel about saints................

And I dont 'accept' blessings that I think are entirely fictional, why would I? So on what basis do you think you have earned special privileges again?

No, Capsium. It is the equivalent of saying, "here is a gift, but you can only have it if you change your beliefs." Personally I don't believe faith is something you can change at will - you either believe something or you don't. Which makes the conditional "gift" particularly cruel in this case. Unless you think we should pretend to be Christian?

I missed that Jassy, thank you for pointing it out. I have done nothing to earn God's blessings. They are a free gift gratefully accepted.

As I said 'like the school playground' - parallel behaviours. Nothing like a debating club!

No don't pretend merry. How can you accept a gift if you don't acknowledge it is there?

So, your God is discriminating against my child, then, by conferring special privileges on those children who have parents who believe in that particular book?

Charming.

Oh, so I deserve being rude to Hak? Why?

No Jassy. Your child can accept God's blessings, the same as anyone else.

Capsium - the concept of privileges necessitates a 'loser', someone who is at a disadvantage compared to one on whom the privilege is conferred - hence to embrace privilege is to embrace inequality.

Well, obviously I hope he doesn't.

But in saying that you believe the structural religious inequality in this country is not a problem/unfixable (the playing field could never be level) because 'you can only receive God's blessings if you accept them', you are staying that both you and your god are proponents of structural inequality, which in its current form includes discrimination against non-believers and their children.

Capsium my understanding was that you equated the privileges conferred to Christians in this country above other faiths/non-faiths to be a blessing from God which you can only receive if you believe in Him. Have I misunderstood? Are you actually saying that special representation in the HoL is a special Christian-only blessing from God to be enjoyed in this life by His true believers?

So I expect you have given all your privileges up, Jassy. Tell me more. How do you manage this?

Still all here folks?
Just picking up where I left off

I doubt any school is singing hymns from a hymn book printed 37yrs ago. Throw your hymn book out!
I doubt schools were singing that hymn back then, but 'heathen' was in circulation in polite circles not so very long ago. And I wouldn't dream of throwing out the copy of Congregational Praise my DM kept for me when they went newfangled and chucked them out. Even though she knew I was an atheist by then, she also knew I'd like to have it. There you go. 'atheists like hymns'.

I believe God blesses everyone merry. However the ones who don't acknowledge the blessing because they do not believe it do not realise it - hence the blessing cannot be utilised, realised, made real for them.

We dealt with this way upthread, Capsium. I shared with you some of the ways I'm campaigning for equality even though it will probably disadvantage me compared to my current level of privilege. It wasn't an exhaustive list. It's definitely not enough, but I'm trying.

However, you're moving the goalposts again and deflecting. Best to bear in mind that I'm not the one saying my privilege (which I recognise) is good and possibly a gift from a deity.

But by giving you have the reward of doing good Jassy. Is not that privilege then good, worth something?