We have a guy our company does business with today pray with me. Upstanding Christian in his beliefs. I get where he is coming from. I really do. I am more Agnostic. My opinion of Agnostic is that maybe there is, maybe their ain't. We talked and I told him my story. He reveled in it. He said he wanted to pray with me.I embraced his faith and thoughts. Didn't try to make out that I was a pagan and he was a dreamer. I felt what he felt. He didn't actually grasp my thoughts. What he wanted to do. It can't hurt. He feels better. I didn't try to sway or belittle him. I respected his thoughts and beliefs. Why is that so hard? We believe what we believe. I left feeling he thought he did the right thing. I'm on the fence. I'll try anything once. Just not feeling that God will turn my life around. But he believes.
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Lizard_of_Ahaz
Level 9
June 9, 2019
0
He knew you were agnostic and he still insisted on you participating in his ritual? Thats the thing I loathe about religion. You were forced to participate even after he knew you were Agnostic. I call that rudeness. You were kind to him. That makes you the better human being IMO.
patchoullijulie
Level 8
June 6, 2019
1
Quite agree. No reason why not. Too many lines drawn in the sand for us all to be accepting of each other it seems to me. A good high tide to was then away may be good.
Geoffrey51
Level 8
June 6, 2019
0
He can believe what he wants, but personally I would not, and will not, let someone make me agree to pray to their magical being. And no, that magical being will not turn your life around. Thats up to you. My 2c...
ronnie40356
Level 7
June 5, 2019
1
Too many claim to beleive because they are hedging their bets they don't live like they should in any case they steal, rob and do so many other illegal things
benhmiller
Level 7
June 5, 2019
0
any real proof any gods exsists? You know cold hard facts not feelings or something you can't explain? These are not evidence of any god just that you don't know why something happens.
benhmiller
Level 7
June 5, 2019
0
Hitchens said that pretending you have access to knowledge other people do not have access to is a contemptible way of arguing (and a means to control other people). Looking back on my life, there are so many instances where religious people said harmful, idiotic things because they think they have magic knowledge that is beyond question. I remember when I was 7 or 8, a younger neighbor boy (apropos of nothing) insisted to me that "Heaven for dogs is in the GROUND!" (This was in the early '80s, before that movie.)
That was the first time religion struck me as mean spirited, hateful, angry, and devoid of sense (stupid, in its most basic meaning). From his tone, and from the fact that we hadn't even been talking about dead animals, he was clearly trying to upset me or anger me, or make it clear to me I didn't belong in his "in group" somehow (I had made no claims about dogs or heaven or religion, but I didn't go to church), and all of this stemmed from something adults told him that literally made no sense. If there WAS a heaven, why WOULDN'T dogs be there? No dog had ever been as mean to me as this boy was trying to be right now. And then a whole slew of questions occurred to me about how heaven didn't make sense, and it instantly occurred to me after THAT that none of those questions would get satisfactory answers from this boy because he didn't know anything, and wasn't open to being reasonable even at a 7 year old's level.
And THEN it occurred to me that the adults he got this information from were equally ignorant and unable to answer these basic questions that I, an 8 year old, could have asked in five seconds. THAT is devoid of sense.
greyeyed123
Level 7
June 5, 2019
3
My niece’s first fiancé (they never married) told her, her dog did not have a soul and could not go to heaven. She loved the dog and realized she needed to get rid of him.
I know religious people. Some of my students say they believe. I don't think it matters. If someone wanted to pray with me, I would politely decline.
By the way, what you are claiming is something called "Pascal's Wager" which is a fallacy.
GuitarDoctor
Level 7
June 5, 2019
1
Let him believe. I used to believe myself but have come to see today that there is no magic man in the sky. I will not argue the fact. It's just that no one can show me any evidence.
DenoPenno
Level 9
June 5, 2019
1
God, if it exists, is the only one who can convenience me of it's existence. I am 81 and to date it has never contacted me in any way or showed me anything.
His next imposition into your life will be even more obnoxious.
These people see any acceptance of this type of nonsense as a green light to full aggressive intrusion into your life.
But maybe you want that.
BufftonBeotch
Level 8
June 5, 2019
3
I would have thrown canned goods before someone put their damned hands on me and started spouting crap out of their mouth.
BufftonBeotch
Level 8
June 5, 2019
4
you do what feels right to you but i would not have come away from such a thing with positive feelings myself. he believes what he believes and he is entitled. but he decided that he would take a step toward changing what YOU do or do not believe. that is different. i would've found that offensive, and no, i am not just looking around to see what i can be offended about next. i try to give people the benefit of the doubt. but i've BEEN through stuff like this, and i find it at best unpleasant.
i have posted about a recent experience of mine in this general vein and i will try to find that and show you.
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genessa
Level 8
June 5, 2019
3
okay here is what i wrote (within the past couple weeks):
today was a weird day on many levels, but one had to do with religion. religion is not something that generally impacts my life at all. thrice a week my guy and i spend a few hours at an adult daycare which is run in conjunction with, while not being a part of, a jewish senior housing/rehab/assisted living/memory care facility. that facility provides the lunches for the daycare, so the lunches (and dishware) are kosher, but people of all beliefs and lack thereof attend (not to mention that the facility also does not discriminate). sometimes we go over to the facility for musical and other entertainment, and that tends to veer toward jewish (and russian) culture, because that's what most of the residents like. most of us are not residents (my guy and i are not). we celebrate the jewish holidays (loosely) but when st. patrick's day rolls around we do stuff related to that, too; we're easy. so it's not a religious experience. my guy and i are jewish. i'm an atheist; my jewishness is cultural. he is a believer, but only in a vague way. he knows less about judaism than i do lol. i think this was true BEFORE he was afflicted with alzheimer's, which is why we go to the daycare at all (he won't go regularly without me).
we had a new client today,a gentleman in a wheelchair, apparently due to a stroke (i don't know how recent) and possibly epilepsy (he wasn't clear about that). i could tell he was somewhat mentally impaired, beyond the effects of the stroke. he was eager to converse and i indulged him, though he was repetitious and somewhat boring. if he's going to be a regular, i guess it wouldn't hurt for us to get to know one another. however, at one point he suddenly brought jesus into the mix, and continued to do so in a more and more pressing way, until i could not avoid telling him that i was not a person who worshiped jesus (i did not put it that way). he was aghast. i had to repeat myself because he couldn't believe i didn't worship jesus. i told him my guy and i were jewish. he wanted to know to whom, if we didn't believe in jesus, we prayed. "i don't pray," i said, "but richard does. he prays to god." the guy's jaw dropped further. i asked him, "haven't you ever met a jew before?" he shook his head very slowly. (this was odd because he had told me he'd visited israel. how do you visit israel and not meet a jew?) i reached out my hand and with a big smile said "how do you do!" he hesitated but then he smiled too. for a second, though, it looked as if he wasn't even going to take my hand! he did so, and smiled, and said "weird."
that sort of ended the conversation, but later, when our music therapist came in and we were talking about elvis, the new guy piped up and said that he didn't call elvis "the king" because there is only one king, and he pointed upward, presumably to heaven and jesus. the therapist laughed it off. he knows he is dealing with seniors and folks with various degrees of impairment both physical and mental, not to mention emotional, so he isn't easily freaked out. most of the room didn't even notice but i sure did, and would have even had we not had our weird conversation. i made a point of telling a staff member about that conversation, asking, "does he really not know what kind of place he's in?" i mean, as i've said, it's not a religious daycare and many of the participants are not jewish, but it IS connected with sholom home; is the name not a clue? did no one tell him? did he or someone representing him not explore all sorts of daycares before choosing one connected with a jewish facility? how did this guy end up in that daycare? the staff member said he'd have a little talk with the guy i know he will be gentle; he's a sweet fellow, that staff member. i like him a lot. (by the way, he's not jewish -- and he IS an atheist!)
g
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