to think that Cultural Christianity is not a baffling concept?

[GooseberryRoolz]

I keep reading and hearing apparent bafflement about this.

It's NOT baffling is it?

[GooseberryRoolz]

Oh fuck, if anyone breaks into my house and shags my cats, Gooseberry, then I'll be fecking furious. Not as furious as the burgling cat shagger though, my little kitties would flitter anyone who attempted such shenanigans.

[GooseberryRoolz]

Gwen, yes, google will give you a definition but it is quite bizarre that all questions were ignored and OP just found it hilarious, throughout the thread, that people hadn't it heard before. It is just goady or worse, belittling people for a perceived lack of intelligence.

You're just making it up now lorelei. 10/10 for persistence, though

[ShadowsCollideIsSurroundedByAd]

Oh fuck, if anyone breaks into my house and shags my cats, Gooseberry, then I'll be fecking furious. Not as furious as the burgling cat shagger though, my little kitties would flitter anyone who attempted such shenanigans.

Yup, AIBU has always been fighty, but has become particularly, er, aggressive lately.

[lorelei9]

Shadows, never worry, didn't think that for a minute.

Gwen, yes, google will give you a definition but it is quite bizarre that all questions were ignored and OP just found it hilarious, throughout the thread, that people hadn't it heard before. It is just goady or worse, belittling people for a perceived lack of intelligence.

Also, even after you've looked up the official definition of something, there can be aspects on which you are unclear.

For the record, I have no judgement on anyone being anything. I did genuinely want to talk about it, and how the cultural Jain example affects me, and of course I see that contributes to my puzzlement around these sorts of phrases.

Really wanting to have an open talk about it was why I posted so late last night, I certainly wouldn't come on here to be rude to people, I'm happy to accept people's views.

So I have to accept OP view that she won't answer questions but I can't help thinking she thinks I'm too thick to talk to!!

And I bid you all good night!

[Gwenhwyfar]

"OP attitude and lack of answering questions and assumptions that everyone must know what she knows"

But if you don't understand something, why not Google it? When people are posting 'I don't know what you mean' without making any attempt to understand it, that in itself is confrontational. Even someone who hasn't heard the expression before should be able to guess because they understand the two words used separately. The argumentativeness doesn't seem to come from a genuine lack of understanding, but rather some opposition to the actual term.

"your comment about Jesus being the son of god, or not, as part of agnostic query is genuinely not something I've come across"

I suppose it's my own thing, rather than being a correct definition of agnosticism. an agnostic is someone who is not sure, so in a largely Christian country, this could mean being not sure about Jesus couldn't it?

[ShadowsCollideIsSurroundedByAd]

Shit, sorry lorelei, that last post came across like I was getting at you, and I genuinely wasn't. I've genuinely enjoyed chatting with you. Also I apologise for spelling your username wrong multiple times

[GooseberryRoolz]

Agree with this. Occasionally there's a thread like this, or sometimes just a post, and the reactions make me feel like I'm not really human/from another planet and have missed some kind of social signal everyone else has picked up on.

If your 'tone' isn't crystal clear, people will interpret one way or the other depending how they feel about what you're saying.

It's one of the reasons being brief or sketchy is a HUGE mistake on AIBU. I thought I'd learnt that lesson years ago. I slipped up

And then there are the tiny minority who just really really want a fight and will hang around for hours pointlessly repeating the same insult regardless of anything said to them. What can you do?

*Oh, and I also thought putting a after something showed you were saying it in a lighthearted "tone", possibly even sarcastically.

[GooseberryRoolz]

I find the tone of some of the responses truly, bizarrely confrontational.

She hasn't broken into your house and shagged your dog

Cat

There's still time

[ShadowsCollideIsSurroundedByAd]

That's what I thought, Gwen. But I wouldn't want to attempt to sound cleverer than I am .

Yes, this thread has been strangely argumentative. I have no idea why. I personally really dislike arguing with people on here, but clearly some folks can't get enough of it. I was just bumbling along posting my thoughts.

[lorelei9]

Gwen, probably because of OP attitude and lack of answering questions and assumptions that everyone must know what she knows....not a great way to get a thread to be informative.

Btw with less of a late night brain, your comment about Jesus being the son of god, or not, as part of agnostic query is genuinely not something I've come across. I guess because the agnostics I've talked to haven't linked to any particular religion, so it's just come up as a general question of belief. So I learned something from you, thanks.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Not really relevant, but I'm pretty sure that both forums and fora are correct. Not sure why this thread is so argumentative.

[BurningBridges]

I'm really very clever, and I've never heard of it.

However, it is something I do pretend to as I often work for a religious order and they are very nice, so why should I upset them by wearing a badge saying "I'm a CC" - ?

[ShadowsCollideIsSurroundedByAd]

'Couldn't Shadows have made -gasp - an honest mistake?'

Indeed I did lorelai. The eternal shame! Clearly some people find errors of any kind most disturbing. Oh well. Thanks for sticking up for me .

Oh and potatoes, I never try to sound more clever than I am. I just type words. I actually like to sound exactly as clever as I am. Which is clearly not very. Damn. Personally I find ignoring the topic of conversation purely to leap in and smugly correct someone 'unbecoming'. I guess we'll both have to live with the tragic shame of being perceived as unbecoming .

[ShadowsCollideIsSurroundedByAd]

herecomesthepotatoes 'the plural of 'forum' is 'forums'. Please don't attempt to sound cleverer than you are. It's unbecoming'.

. Oh dear. I sincerely apologise for being unbecoming. The shame. I made an error whilst chatting on a forum. Because, you know, it's ever so important that strangers online think me 'becoming'.

[lorelei9]

Giant - indeed, Duchess was right and I stupidly didn't realise...

[giantpurplepeopleeater]

Haven't yet read the whole thread but want to give all the praise for the DuchessofArbrothsHat answer on teb first page. Bravo!

[SukeyTakeItOffAgain]

I'm with you tophat. I totally don't get the angst about it. Why should having a Christian cultural traditions upset people so much? They don't have to adhere to it. No one will assume they're about to mount a horse and fight some Saracens.

[topcat2014]

Well, I hadn't heard of this before this thread - do we take it that being culturally Christian is a bad thing then - a bit like cultural appropriation - which is another thing I only heard of this year?

AfAIK the country is 'christian' based - so hardly suprising if the majority are perhaps culturally Christian?

I'll stick with Christmas & Easter, if its all the same.

Not sure about the man in the clouds though.

[elementofsurprise]

thecatfromjapan I find the tone of some of the responses truly, bizarrely confrontational.

Agree with this. Occasionally there's a thread like this, or sometimes just a post, and the reactions make me feel like I'm not really human/from another planet and have missed some kind of social signal everyone else has picked up on.

But it can't be missing body langage cues (a la ASD)... it seems more like most people have some kind of internalised agreed social norms that some of us aren't aware of!

I'd love to know if the posters this happens to struggle with relationships or group situations in real life ...

Oh, and I also thought putting a after something showed you were saying it in a lighthearted "tone", possibly even sarcastically.

[lorelei9]

thecatfromjapan "She hasn't broken into your house and shagged your dog"

^ this wins the thread

[elementofsurprise]

lorelei9 I can’t imagine why someone who believed in nothing from a particular religion would call themselves of that relgion.

Well, plenty of people seem to. They do all the religious stuff - in the case of Christianity, they go to chuch, get their children baptised etc, but the way they live their lives otherwise, indicate they don't really believe it, and if you pressed them on it they would presumably admit that no, they don't believe it literally. I did give examples in my post. Compare someone who is a churchgoer and forgets about it the rest of the week with someone who consults the Bible and prays (and believes they hear/feel god answering) over decisions and issues in their life etc. I would say the first one is more "culturally Christian" and the second more actually Christian.

I don't know why someone would carry on claiming to be a certain religion, or practising various elements, but then I'm not the one doing it! I supposed it's comforting; as I mentioned I quite like the idea of being "vaguely Christian", going to church etc. without having to fully commit and say "yes I literally believe Jesus is the son of god" etc etc. Because I don't KNOW, but I do think there is something out there and a religion is a convenient way of acknowleding that, somehow.

[Gwenhwyfar]

"aster is based on a pre-Christian pagan festival.
Christmas has hijacked Yule - another pre-Christian pagan festival.
The vernal equinox was another pre-Christian pagan festival hijacked to become the Annunciation.
Et cetera.

So surely we are cultural pagans?"

No, because these traditions didn't come to us straight from paganism. They've passed through Christianity first, if you know what I mean.

[thecatfromjapan]

I think Goodeberry has been remarkably polite and friendly, personally.

It was an interesting invitation for people to think and offer their opinions.

I find the tone of some of the responses truly, bizarrely confrontational.

She hasn't broken into your house and shagged your dog. She's asked what people think about something.

I dread to think how some posters deal with truly challenging situations.

Baffling.

[DN4GeekinDerby]

I don't think it is baffling - and I don't think it is baffling why some religious Christians may find the term weird/wrong/uncomfortable or baffling that others may not have heard or understand it right away.

I do find it baffling throwing other groups into it to prove a point. I and many other people I know have had plenty of people sneer at and had our culture and family traditions belittled when we're not devout or not observant but still join in with certain things or want to use holiday time to do or be with our families for our family's traditions -- and I've had even more people sneer at me for not taking part in Christian traditions or holidays by pushing on the 'well, you've not really any other religion, so there is no harm' as if there is no other reason not to do so. The whole idea that the rest of us get away with being secular and part of our culture/family's traditions freely is quite baffling and nothing like I've ever experienced. More people may know the term but that doesn't make it any easier.

[GooseberryRoolz]

lorelei what on earth are you on about?