Um...please stop preaching... your scaring away my demons

[Pagan]

Oooh, poser "wiccans". They're a whole new category of suck onto themselves too.

Ya mean "Play-gans"? I think I got that from somebody else on CS.com.

I do think I may make a 3-headed purple yak statue, however, and start praying to Yakkety-Yak. Who knows, maybe it will answer my prayers....no one else has, to date.

Have you tried the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? http://flyingspaghettimonster.org/

[Lace Neil Singer]

I once met a girl at a pub gig who claimed loudly to be a pagan. Now, I wear an inverted pentacle (think that's the right word, I'm having a major brain fart right now) for no other reason than the fact that I'm a Motley Crue fan. This girl homed right in on that and starting accusing me of being a devil worshipper. To get rid of her, I told her, yes, I was and she walked away. I thought pagans didn't believe in the devil; so why the hysteria?

[Broomjockey]

Have you tried the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster? http://flyingspaghettimonster.org/

Though I do like the "touched by his noodely appendage" bit with him, I've also great fondness for the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

http://www.invisiblepinkunicorn.com/

It's invisible AND pink!

[LonelyStr8manInSF]

Though I do like the "touched by his noodely appendage" bit with him, I've also great fondness for the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

http://www.invisiblepinkunicorn.com/

It's invisible AND pink!

I too liked the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but the IPU is a stroke of pure genius, that I wish I had discovered long ago at least I know of it now. Quite literally, it is the first thing I have ever wanted to get as a tatoo.

You know how some people have a cross over their bed, to ward off evil or whatever? I have a Darwin Fish over mine

[Andara Bledin]

It's invisible AND pink!

And Pink? How can you go wrong?!?

^-.-^

[zzapp the witch]

Had a gal once holler at me in a public place that I was going to Hell if I didn't let her save me (I'm still trying to figure this out....there was no way to tell what religion I was). I asked her if she was going to be there, and when she said no, I responded brightly, "Sign me up!" She didn't like that too much.

And I just found out last night during my 7 yr old's bath time that he doesn't believe in God. Just like that. He was listing stuff off like, "I don't believe in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Devil, or even God." Ooook, that came out of nowhere. But after a few questions I found out that he believes in being nice to other people because "when people do bad things to you it makes you feel bad, so I'll do nice things because I know that if they did nice things to me, it would make me feel good, so me doing nice things to them will make them feel good."

I figure I'm doing something right....at least. /shrug

I may not take my kids to church, but they're learning something valuable just the same.

[Andara Bledin]

Do unto others, eh?

Your kid's got a solid grasp on the fundamentals, there, Zzapp.

^-.-^

[NightAngel]

zzap~

When my son was about 7-8 years old he informed me that he was an "aethiest". Yep, he knew the word and knew what it meant even. He said that he thought that anyone who believed there was anything after this was "craaazzzyyy".

Now he's 15 and is more interested in religion and has now decided he's a Wiccan, like me. In a couple of years maybe he'll be a Christian or a Zen Buddist or something.

Spirituality is a journey- kids have to find their own way. We parents are merely the tour guides.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I've never had much religious trouble from customers, but I had a manager who used to give me hell for not being a christian.

I don't talk about my beliefs to anyone, it's just not worth the trouble. I think he asked me some kind of question that I answered honestly. I think I told him that I wasn't religious. I live in north GA, if you say that you aren't "Christian" it's like...very uncomfortable. But, if you say, "not religious", that could mean anything. It also implies to the other person that you feel very strongly about not talking about it, period.

My manager didn't buy it. His next words were, "So, why aren't you religious? Do you think that you are too good for it?" He said it in an awful tone. When I was in high school, my entire chorus class (50+ people) found out all at once, that I wasn't christian from someone else in the class. I have learned through that experience, and others like it, is that if you want people to leave you alone and they have already started something with you, then rude sarcasm is in order. I looked him stright in the face and said, "Yes."

[air914]

[QUOTE=Gabrielle Proctor;129681]I've never had much religious trouble from customers, but I had a manager who used to give me hell for not being a christian.

I don't talk about my beliefs to anyone, it's just not worth the trouble. I think he asked me some kind of question that I answered honestly. I think I told him that I wasn't religious. I live in north GA, if you say that you aren't "Christian" it's like...very uncomfortable. But, if you say, "not religious", that could mean anything. It also implies to the other person that you feel very strongly about not talking about it, period.
[QUOTE]

Ah the north & south are so different..... still I lived in PA for a time and when I mentioned something about going to church (casually - at work - no telling people they were going to hell if they didn't come with me or any of that crap) - well it was like I released the hounds..... people talked down to me, treated me badly, made up rumors about me, etc. etc. I'm from KY and I consider KY a good mix of religious/not religious.... but up in PA (at least where I was), if you even mentioned God you were some kind of crazy weirdo..... and everyone assumed many things about you - without actually asking your personal opinion on anything or trying to find out if that's what you really believed - nope, just assumed I was some crazy lunatic who must be stupid and not able to think logically.....

On the flip side - I did find a church that I LOVED in PA. It was near downtown, a mixture of all ethnicities & ages - and it had sermons relevant today and like an 80 member choir - so not EVERYONE in PA was like that, but the majority I ran into were definitely not "open-minded" or really "tolerant" of my beliefs.

Oh and about the child who said he stopped believing in God, Santa, fairies, etc...... I don't have kids now but when I do, I really don't WANT them to believe in the Easter bunny or Santa or any of that - while it's kinda fun and magical when they are kids, then they grow up and start to find out everything they've been told (santa, bunny, toothfairy, etc.) are really lies.... not malicious lies, but lies nonetheless. My brother went through that progression when he was young asking my mom if santa was real, was the easter bunny real - and of course got to "is God real?". My family believes in God, so the answer to the last one was yes, but of course if you're a logical thinker (like my brother) - I can see the progression of thinking there.....so I don't think I'll be having bunnies & santa claus & tooth fairies in my house...... (I'm not saying anything against anyone that does, I certainly grew up with all of those things and enjoyed them)

[Jinxy]

[QUOTE=air914;128700]Wow Jinxy, you've ran into all the nuts, haven't you? I can't believe you've had all that happen to you.
QUOTE]

All of that was prior to my first marriage, which taught me many things, the two most important of which were to not put up with bs, and cool, calm and collected in the face of stupidty/massive anger/violence really seems to mess with peoples heads.

Jinxy who actually enjoys answering with a smile on her face

[Antisocial_Worker]

Has anyone ever heard that quote "don't be so open minded your brains fall out?" I always thought that was funny

Or, "Open minds, like open windows, should be screened to keep the bugs out."

I've been pounced on, on two occasions that I can recall by people who were overcome by the spirit and thought they ought to share. Once it was by a very religious woman who objected to me repiercing my ear, as bodies are God's property, and you mustn't damage His property. It's in the Bible.

The other time was by an atheist who noticed my crucifix earring back when I had my ear pierced the first time (What is it about my left ear? Is it that sexy and irresistable that people look whether they want to or not?), and demanded to know if I believed in Jesus, then sneered and turned her back on me when I said I did indeed.

I'm a Christian, but I've been exposed to enough weirdness by virtue of where I live to know that there are lot of shades of gray. Perhaps in other parts of the world, things are black and white, but here, if a statue of the Virgin Mary were to start bleeding, it's a safe bet that elsewhere in town a statue of Buddha is sweating fragrant oil, and a statue of Ganesh is squirting milk out of its nose. Living here is as close as you'll get to a real-life Laurell K. Hamilton novel, so if you open your eyes to that reality, you can't ignore it ever again. Therefore, shades of gray, and therefore I'm a tolerant Christian. I always wonder what would have happened to those two people, the super-religious, and super-non-religious ladies, if they'd experienced all the lunatic things I've seen around here in my life.

[Gravekeeper]

One of the advantages I've found to being Buddhist is that the average mouth foaming bible thumper doesn't know enough about it to figure out if they can damn you to hell or not. ;p

Back when I was wiccan/pagan (years and years ago) I certainly got an earful now and then though.