-Edited for the mental well being of Severus Snape-

"of all time" I think its a little irrelevant at this stage but rather we should look at current trends. I did type a whole thing here but honestly it is just derailing from the original point and sounded a little bit "We have it worse because.... so there!" rather than an attempt to part information in return for some so I deleted it. I would be interested in seeing the source of your information though to satisfies my thirst for knowledge.


I would like to think this person that was simply on a rant or trolling rather than being a bitch. I would say that though I personally would consider my self to be reasonably anti the current organised religions, I would never try to convince some one to change (lets be honest its a futile attempt which leaves both parties pissed off) and I would also never hold it against some one. I would however be interested in talking to the other person to find out why they were so against Christianity.

If you believe that humans have a right to live any life style they choose, you are generally nice and that scripture does not trump science as I would imagine you do then you are good in my book!

Please do forgive us for the idiotic extremists of atheism as we forgive those of the religious for theirs. Some times I fear ours have some what less charisma though perhaps that is better as they will never attract followers.

If I was a cat my curiosity would have killed me already.

Um.. Welcome to the internet, I suppose.

Statistically, Christians are the most persecuted/oppressed people of all time in human history. That is the complete opposite of safe. You are more likely to be murdered, raped and tortured against your will simply for being a christian than any other race, cast or creed or sexuality so I suppose your argument of oppression fall apart right there. I do understand where you are coming from though (I renowned myself as a lesbian at a very, very young age vs. christian neighborhood).

Moreover Projecting built up frustration due to oppression onto others via denigrating claims isn't justifiable.


Problem being anyone and everyone can find at least one aspect of themselves that lies in the minority and is likely to be oppressed. Such is the nature of a diverse society.

Okayy, Ignoring the SIGNIFICANT amount of assumptions made here, I would say that that is a very twisted analogy. Stating that when a person upholds something provocative intended to instigate despair/fury to any/other group, the blame is immediately to be passed unto the larger group at hand and the majority should "bare with it" solely for being the majority is not just ludicrous but unfair to both parties and I disagree on all provinces with that statement. Radicals are to be found in all groups. Where there is group, there is 'groupthink' (google). Given, the actions of radicals yield more attention but in no shape or form do they represent the group as a whole, that being a serious fallacy of hasty generalization.

Unless the person is an elected representative representing his 'culture', he speaks for no-one but himself and should have the confidence to take the responsibility for it.

Being oppressed (mistreated, abused, isolated, tortured both physically and mentally) many times for being a girl, liking girls and being a white person, I can tell you that although the thought of waging war on 'men', 'theists' or 'non-Caucasians' has appealed to me once (or many times), my view of all remains rational and unchanged. No exceptions.

Im probably an atheist myself aswell but I honestly dont care what other people think or in what they trust. If they want to live with it its fine for me aslong as they do the same to me.
Simple but effective

I am very atheist, so much so that I often get into arguments with people on the internet about it. However, those people are the people who try to throw their religion in your face and talk about how I'll go to hell or something if I don't immediately give in to their faith. I don't mind people like you who believe but don't force it on to others. I can see the reason for believing in a(n) god(s) and respect its necessity and occasional positive influence on society. The person who made that comment is clearly just as hateful as homophobic people can be.

Just because 80-85% of the US is "Christians" doesn't mean anything. There is a HUGE difference between someone to calls themselves a Christian versus a true Christian. No true Christian would beat up someone because they disagree with them. They would love on them and try to reason with them. Or maybe even accept the fact that they have different views.

Thanks to the "Christians" real Christians are not considered in the minority but in reality they are.

I am really glad you made your point!

I knew what you were getting at. Just wanted to head off any hurt feelings before they start. A number of people self-identify as sociopaths. And there is a lot of argument in the medical community over what actually defines a sociopath and if/how it's different from a psychopath.

But I also didn't want to start that discussion because a) I'm not precisely qualified to and b) I didn't want to derail KJ's blog.

Well, all of the ones I have had to deal with are. So see, even the one example I made is not true!

Not quite all, there are several (variants? levels?) of sociopathy.

5 Myths About Sociopathy

No worries, I understood what you meant, just used it as a jumping off point for what I wanted to say to KJ.

Probably should have been more clear: he isn't using it to hurt anyone(to my knowledge, anyway), so I don't have any real issues with him having them other than believing it's incorrect. My apologies for being unclear.

I really wanted to chime in here because this is a topic I know a lot about.

The truth is Christianity does hurt people.
The best example is one that is closest to my heart: I personally have been called a sinner, evil, or just talked to as if I am an idiot doomed. I have cried many times because of the things Christians allowed themselves to say to me. Out of my very close friends, 8 of them are gay men, 4 of those have been jumped and beaten to the point of hospitalization because they are gay, and because Christianity villainizes gay people. 1 of the guys was laughed at by the cops and told he deserved it, all of the others had problems once they got to the hospital. I have other friends that have had experiences that were so much worse I don't even want to write out the stories here.

Now, a lot of people will recognize that these kinds of things happening in the name of Christianity does not mean that the entire group caused them. A lot of people have realized that there are Christian groups out there fighting the violence and hurt and hate too. But then you have to take into account general emotional development too.

Most minority individuals will go through a process of finding and owning their identity. There are 6 phases to this development, and early on in the development there is a phase of seeing the dominant culture as being totally, absolutely wrong. Often this phase is accompanied by a lot of anger and anything the person associates with the dominant culture will be seen as something evil or to be scorned. It is a reasonable thing to think, when you have been discriminated against, that the people who caused all of that suffering are, as a group, bad people.

The truth is that we know that there is no definition like that... you can not say "All (insert race, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, hobby etc. here) are bad people." You just can't*. But it takes a certain amount of introspection, intelligence, and forgiveness to come to the realization. Not everyone is there yet, nor should we always expect all people to be there. Some people never move beyond that moment, beyond that space.

And I accept that with compassion; people who are hurting are not hurting because they are lashing out at me as an individual, but because they are hurting. Something has legitimately caused that hurt, and they need to put a fixed point on that anger and pain.

The difference between being in the minority, and being in the dominant culture, when faced by this, is that when you belong to the dominant culture it is difficult to empathize with that pain. You are used to the majority of people agreeing with you. Right now I think 85-90% of the US population is Christian. You are maybe in the minority on getDare, or people are not talking about it, but in the general population you can assume that you are safe.

My point is, it was not an attack on you. It is an expression of cultural forces and institutional/structural problems; and to some extent you are a part of that, we all have our teeny tiny affect on the culture, but you have no control over it directly. They have no control over the culture either. We can wish and hope, with compassion, that they find a way to have a positive impact on the culture and through that some healing, but until then, the only job of anyone in the dominant culture is to not take it personally, be a force for positive change, and have compassion for people who have not walked the same (privileged) paths that we have.

I understand that it hurt you, but as a person who has had a lot of hurts, and bounced back with joy and love, I can say for certain that understanding the bigger picture, and viewing the world with compassion can go a long way in changing your emotional reaction.

I hoped this somehow helped.


*Except... "All sociopaths are bad people." We can say that one.

I find it ironic, and rather disappointing, that someone would have the gall to make a comment like that here, with a community that generally values providing people with a safe place where they are free to express aspects of themselves often (mistakenly) considered 'crazy', 'abnormal', and even 'damaging' by much of society. Acceptance and tolerance shouldn't just extend to the person's kinks, and I'm glad that you have people in your life who know better.

You're crazy!

Honestly, sweetie, don't let ignorance get you down. You know where I stand, I know where you stand, and if other people can't respect your beliefs they're not worth getting upset over.

Chin up! Life is good, for those with acceptance and love in their hearts.

While I disagree with your religious views, they don't hurt anyone, so I don't see the problem.

As a fellow believer I agree with you. Many times the very people who "preach" tolerance are intolerant themselves. It is one thing to state an opinion and back it up but quite another to just make attacks on a belief system.

Thanks for sharing - this is obviously a very personal post and you sound like a great guy. I wish you all the best learning to trust again.

Not saying this is at all like your situation, but I once started a pen-pal relationship with someone, but had terrible hand-writing, so had my sister write my first letter. The relationship developed, and every letter I sent, I had to get my sister to write to maintain consistency. Eventually, years later, I had to come clean with my penpal and say "Hey, I have a confession - my letters are my own, but the handwriting is not". We're still friends, but that was rough (both for me as the confessor, and for her as the person left questioning every single letter I'd ever sent).

You know my thoughts on everything already and since it is personal I won't re-say it all hear. *hugs* I'm glad you have at least one person you can still trust.

I have had my trust in humanity shattered into a million pieces after realizing that my wife, who I loved more than anything for 10 years had been lying, and continued to lie. My trust in humanity is now a lot more selective, but it does come back, you can and will heal. You will never be the person you were before again, but you will be a new person who can trust and love again. *sends healing thoughts*

I admired a lot of what you said, no thank you needed.

I am truly glad things seem to be going better for you.

Xx

You're welcome, love!! I am always here for you in any capacity you need me to be

In all fairness you gave yourself that nickname I just repeated it more then once! I am glad your bad month is over and you can start focusing on happier times!

Aww <3 thank you! I can honestly say the same about you. You have helped me so much and I am so glad that we have become friends! Things are only going to get better for you