Words Hurt: A Small Rant
OK yeah I probably just deterred a fair population of people form this entry with the title but yeah I just have a need to rant about something I saw on the forums. I may be singling out one person on this but I am not going to mention them by name but I saw this on the forums and I quote, "...all individuals with religious or supernatural views must be given psychiatric evaluation before being isolated from the rest of society." I'm sorry but this person...this person...pissed me off. So apparently since I am a Christian and I believe in God I am apparently clinically insane and do not deserve to be part of mainstream society! Is that what you're saying because that what it sounds like to me! You may not realize this but there is a margin, granted it may be a small margin, of people on here that believe in the supernatural and religion and I know some of these people and last I checked we are just as sane as you are and do not need to be checked and isolated from society. I will admit it again I am a Christian but I don't exert my religious views here because I know there's a time and a place for everything and now is not the place.
But let's say I turned that around what if I said all atheists need to psychologically examined and isolated from society. You like being called crazy?! But I would never say that because I actually have the decency to live with people who have different views than me and accept it. My best friend on this site is an atheist. She knows I'm a Christian, and I know she's an atheist. And while we do call each other crazy, it's the kind of craziness we learn to embrace and accept as friends and are based off our own personal quirks not on our differing religious views.
So just because we have different views does not label us as psychopaths who need to be isolated from mainstream society. I respect what you believe and if you choose to be an atheist, then fine...be an atheist! Just because I don't agree with your opinion doesn't mean I think any less of you. But learn to live with people who are different than you...it makes life so much more enjoyable!
That's all I'm going to say as I said it was a small rant.
But let's say I turned that around what if I said all atheists need to psychologically examined and isolated from society. You like being called crazy?! But I would never say that because I actually have the decency to live with people who have different views than me and accept it. My best friend on this site is an atheist. She knows I'm a Christian, and I know she's an atheist. And while we do call each other crazy, it's the kind of craziness we learn to embrace and accept as friends and are based off our own personal quirks not on our differing religious views.
So just because we have different views does not label us as psychopaths who need to be isolated from mainstream society. I respect what you believe and if you choose to be an atheist, then fine...be an atheist! Just because I don't agree with your opinion doesn't mean I think any less of you. But learn to live with people who are different than you...it makes life so much more enjoyable!
That's all I'm going to say as I said it was a small rant.
Total Comments 18
Comments
-
Posted 07-18-2014 at 10:09 PM by Nzrunner -
Posted 07-19-2014 at 06:17 AM by NorthlandDom -
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.Posted 07-19-2014 at 09:36 AM by jlstockton25 -
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.
Posted 07-19-2014 at 09:47 AM by naughtylittlegirl -
Quote:
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.Posted 07-19-2014 at 10:45 AM by Happy Me -
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.
Posted 07-19-2014 at 11:14 AM by NorthlandDom -
Posted 07-19-2014 at 11:15 AM by Happy Me -
Posted 07-19-2014 at 12:34 PM by kittenlyss -
Posted 07-19-2014 at 01:06 PM by Happy Me -
Quote:
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.Posted 07-19-2014 at 05:20 PM by kittenlyss -
Posted 07-19-2014 at 05:24 PM by Happy Me -
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.Posted 07-19-2014 at 10:12 PM by Subbiebrookie -
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.
Posted 07-20-2014 at 03:25 AM by cantthinkofanythin -
Posted 07-20-2014 at 06:05 AM by SweetTeen -
Thanks to all the people who have kind of stayed on track. I don't profess my faith often but telling people immediately that they're going to hell is NOT the correct way to go about witnessing. Being part of the kid's and youth ministry at my church I've had some training classes with that. Also in regards to what happy said there are some churches that believe God hates the LGBT community. I have no idea where they got that doctrine from, because it certainly wasn't from the Bible. But as I said I don't want to get too preachy on this site so I'm going to stop my comment here.
Posted 07-20-2014 at 06:37 AM by Komodo Jones -
Quote:
Quote:
Moreover Projecting built up frustration due to oppression onto others via denigrating claims isn't justifiable.
Quote: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.
Quote: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.
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.Posted 07-20-2014 at 08:21 AM by SaraMueller
Updated 07-20-2014 at 08:35 AM by SaraMueller -
Quote:
Quote:
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.Posted 07-20-2014 at 12:03 PM by Ly Ph -
Posted 07-20-2014 at 07:24 PM by SaraMueller
Updated 07-20-2014 at 07:30 PM by SaraMueller