I am dreading tomorrow because of religion!

[StinkyXmasCheese]

Dreading tomorrow with my family.
They are all strong in their faith Christians and I know there will be praying and thanking god etc.
I was brought up Christian but am no longer and I'm actually quite angry about religion at the moment. (Working through these issues with my counsellor.)
I know Christmas is a Christian holiday but I know I can't have a drink or I'll say something to cause an argument and I have to bite my tongue.
I've already said to dh that we're going away for Xmas next year cos I just don't want to deal with it.
I don't know how I'm going to get through the day without letting something slip!

What absolute nonsense Biscuit. This thread isn't about you and your attempts to convert everyone with your ridiculous propaganda.

@Heatherjayne1972
and no where in the bible are Christians told to celebrate his birth

Really?! Have you ever read the Bible?! Sorry but this really made me chuckle.

The issue here is not religion, it's your anger. People are allowed to believe what they want without being attacked about it in their own homes.

No, not this. i have a relative I adore and want to see every couple of weeks. But everytime I go there I get religion shoved down my throat with a pitchfork for hours on end, going on and on and on about Jesus. She knows full well I am nother religion. Then starts praying out loud that I will "find" Jesus. There is no other topic of conversation. I just can't go anymore, I can't cope with it. I wouldn't mind at all if it was say, going to church on Christmas morning and then saying grace or whatever but the constant barrage of trying to convert me makes me feel almost insane by the end of the day.
How are people supposed to deal with this.
I've tried telling her I'm very happy with my own religion and would rather just see her and be with her and maybe talk about neutral topics but she just says if she wants to talk about Jesus all day she will.
As a result we've completely grown apart and I feel it's a tragedy.

I just can't go anymore, I can't cope with it.

Totally normal thing to do! She sounds batshit frankly. I would avoid like the plague.

What I wouldn't do, is go to her house, get a bit pissed and 'not be able to hold my tongue' (aka verbally attack her). That is unacceptable and incredibly weird.

Hate the way they go on about religion? Have made your case clear that you don't want to hear it and still they persist? Avoid that person until they stop it. I know it isn't always as straightforward as that when it's a relative, but it's better than going over there on xmas day with the intention of having a few drinks, knowing that means you are likely to say something you will regret.

As an aside, if you frequently find can't hold your tongue when you drink, to the point where it's a real worry, you might want to look at your drinking.

Unfortunately many religious people are often intolerant of others views and often quite nasty. I have removed such people from my life, the only thing to do, even if they are relations.

Really?! Have you ever read the Bible?! Sorry but this really made me chuckle.

It tells the story. It doesn’t explicitly advise any celebration of it. (A friend got kicked out of his evangelical church for pointing it out.)

Of course they did, @NeedAnExpert

@Takethebuscuitandthesink why am I not a proper Christian? Because I'm a priest who is a woman. Simples.

You don't have to say the prayers, just put your head down! It's downright rude to arrange to go to the toilet when they do it. You sound like a madam, not everything is about you!

He did. He’s a very bitter Christian. Lost his partner and two sons through his absolute refusal to believe that every word in the bible is open to any interpretation at all.

I have no difficulty believing that, @NeedAnExpert. My son goes to a C of E village school, because it’s the only one for miles, and has a lot of children from non-Christian backgrounds, and while I’m entirely familiar with the Cof E, I’ve been unpleasantly surprised at the amount of dogmatic Biblical literalism that’s filtered through from the very evangelical vicar.

When a seven year old who’s read different editions of Enid Blyton (original and without the racism) can see the problem with ‘It’s true because it’s in the Bible’ and a thirty-five-year old man can’t, there’s a problem,

Why the constant videos? You’re assuming anyone actually cares enough to sit through the bullshit, and/or is invested in your derailing.

If it’s that important to you make your arguments in your own thread and stop relying on YouTube to do it for you.

Hail fucking Satan

@Takethebuscuitandthesink

Do you actually have any of your own opinions about your, presumably, strongly-held beliefs, or just a bunch of YouTube videos? You're like an annoying teenager who's just done the Alpha course and simply has to 'prove' everyone wrong.

(And no, I haven't watched them. I'm not going to watch them. I'm not going to debate the 'evidence' point by point. For broadly the same reasons I don't watch and debate flat Earth, holocaust denial and 9/11 conspiracy videos. And because I'm a grown up who's quite secure in their own beliefs without wanting to try and convert anyone else - I went through my 'let's have a mass debate' phase a long time ago.)

Jesus fucking Christ - what’s with the bloody videos?! It just keeps going on!! Here - have a video with “evidence” that the earth is flat : go on debate it! Have a video that fairies reside in my attic : debate it! What the actual fuck. Have you even apologised for asking people (presumably of different cultures faiths and non faiths) to randomly accept Jesus as their personal lord and saviour? and yes as PP said - hail fucking Satan!!!

If PPs are so confident in their convictions it is a little odd they have responded in such an aggressive manner the reason I have used videos is because they are able to articulate the point in a better and more engaging way than me. And @WestBerlin there is absolutely no need to put what I am discussing alongside any of the other points which 1) are totally outrageous, offensive and unacceptable and 2) easily debunked , what I have presented is neither of those things so your argument is nul and void. The ops need for advice is over and they have long since disappeared. Also my comments are no more derailing than all of those in the earlier stages of this thread attacking Christianity.

@Takethebuscuitandthesink this is another video from a conservative American protestant source. It really isn't helping.

Hey @Takethebuscuitandthesink why did you ask people to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour? Go on. Why?

It a Christian school surely traditional Christianity being taught is to be expected.

First assembly at my Church in Wales secondary school was all about the Big Bang. The headteacher was a Doctor of Physics.

Weather

Whether

or not there are non Christians there surely they knew what they were signing up for and I don’t really know why you would go there as a non Christian anyway unless there are circumstances that compel them to do so.

In my case it was the only school my mother had taught at and she was at the catchment secondary school so no way on earth was I going there. 7 years later I was more atheist than when I went in. (And pretty bloody good at physics. )

Pigeons and chess

Here’s a video proving* that windmills are bad for the environment.

(* it doesn’t at all. It just proves that anyone can say anything in a video and put it on the internet and have people believe it despite being absolute bollocks.)

Everyone’s entitled to their beliefs. I’m not a Christian, but I see that Christianity is a comfort to some people. It’s really none of my business, or anyone else’s. If people don’t believe in the bible, then obviously that’s fine, but respect the fact that it’s also fine for others to hold a belief or opinion different to your own. It’s a bit crap to ridicule and bully someone on a thread because they’re a Christian fgs.

It’s a bit crap to come on a thread full of people from who knows what persuasion and culture and ask them to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Beyond crap.