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 Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 3:12 pm
Churches scare me... *shivers*
I'm glad my parents don't go to the church.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:19 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 4:01 pm
I know what you mean Nonymous, my mom got mad at me once for not saying prayers in church. I ended up saying them, because their just words but I still resented it...
I come from a cathloic family (Like an uncle is a bishop...), and yes I have all the sacrements, not by choice but... My parents used to make me go to church when I was living at home, it was "Mom I'm an athiest" "That's nice sweety, now get in the car we're going to church" rolleyes
I did go to youth group sometimes though. Some of my closest friends were there. I went through cathloc schooling and stuff so a bunch of my really good friends were there. The youth leaders were cool about me too, I mean they were a little like "consider convert..." But not "CONVERT AHHHH!!!! YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!!! YEARRRR!!!!" And some of the more religious people actully enjoied argueing with me. I became a little unwelcome though... It was prayer time and that means we sit in the church all night and pray. I wasn't driving yet (This is a long time ago xd ) so I was stuck there. Well the youth leaders tried to get me to pray but I was like ummm... no..... So I went over to the corner and meditated. It started with one person and then more and soon everyone was there meditating with me but like seven. The youth leaders were pissed, and suddenly I was a bad influence on christan souls. They didn't kick me out and they weren't mean but things got cold... so I stopped going. Then I went to my boyfriends youth group, he wanted me to meet some people, and they had given him s**t for dating me before so I only went once. You want to know nasty looks... that was it. I was the "Heathen going-to-burn-in-hell witch that had a good cathloic boy under my evil un-godly spells" rolleyes ... Even less people liked me there.
All in all, You can go to youth groups but they are all there to worship. You won't fit in most the time, and even if you do it's always going to be a little awkard here and there...
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:33 am
I go there for the social event, and also for analysis of the way they get people to join. You know why pentecostals are the only Christian religion with a positive growth-rate? Because they seek out young people, they use tribal, bass rhythms following the sandards of modern pop-culture amongst young people, and they encourage young marriage.The rhythms of the songs are a 4/4 beat, which matches the average heart-rate, and is easily relatable as it's what we're used to hearing. They use simple melody, as that combines with the bass rhtythms to produce a euphoric effect, especially if you come there expecting something anyway.
But some of my friends go there, so I do too to see them. But they're starting to get a bit weird on me confused I'm not a christian, and I meditate for the relaxing effect, but this apparently makes me 'evil'. They offered me an exorcism... neutral I was very weirded out by that. Apparently the pastor person thingy thinks I'm possessed...
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:02 am
I go to a unitarian church, where you can believe what you want so it's not really a church, they let you believe what you want... And everyones all nice and liberal. And I'm mostly just there for the youth group, where we just learn about different religions.
I don't see how unitarianism is a religion though... oh well, it's a fun church, and a lot of my friends go there. Oh ya, and a few times my grandparents dragged me to their catholic (or was it christian? They're all the same anyway...) church, andd it is a miserable place. They talked about how "horrible" it is that they don't allow religion in public places half the time, and the place they live isn't even THAT conservative I think.... I wanted to throw food at the minister. Oh well.
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:04 am
Anthropomorphic person I go there for the social event, and also for analysis of the way they get people to join. You know why pentecostals are the only Christian religion with a positive growth-rate? Because they seek out young people, they use tribal, bass rhythms following the sandards of modern pop-culture amongst young people, and they encourage young marriage.The rhythms of the songs are a 4/4 beat, which matches the average heart-rate, and is easily relatable as it's what we're used to hearing. They use simple melody, as that combines with the bass rhtythms to produce a euphoric effect, especially if you come there expecting something anyway. But some of my friends go there, so I do too to see them. But they're starting to get a bit weird on me confused I'm not a christian, and I meditate for the relaxing effect, but this apparently makes me 'evil'. They offered me an exorcism... neutral I was very weirded out by that. Apparently the pastor person thingy thinks I'm possessed...
They offered you an exorcism? hahaaa! That'll be something to tell your grandkids in 50 year's time.
Meditation does not have to be religious at all, so how come it's suddenly 'evil'? I meditate occasionally, for relaxation purposes... it helps me to escape from the real world for a bit. Wouldn't the church rather you be meditating to 'escape' rather, for example, you turning to drink/drugs for relaxation? I know christians who meditate, they see it as a silent sort of prayer to feel "closer to god".
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Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 9:19 pm
I go because my parents make me. It's been better recently, since I've got a job and all, but it still sucks.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 11:51 am
I go to church whenever my friends want me to. At nobody but my friends know i'm atheist. It's kinda funny actually. I just sorta blend it and they think i'm christian.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:46 pm
I'm forced to go whenever my mother feels the need to go.
I don't think anyone in my family gets the hint of what I really think, this guild is hidden too. neutral (My sister is on Gaia)
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:47 pm
Well, I used to go to a youth church with my friend just to hang out. This summer we were supposed to do a mural on a 30 ft. wall at the church, but we don't hang out anymore.
I haven't been there in a while, but I won't be back any time soon. The last time I went there during a service they had a sermon about The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It was ridiculous. Everyone was handed information about the history in the book, and kids started ripping the papers up. Someone asked,"Should we go protest the movie at the theaters?" It was sickening how much they were "offended" by a fictional book.
Aaaanyway... I hadn't gone to church in years before I went to the youth church this year with my friend. I don't think I ever want to go back, though.
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Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:45 pm
I only go to Church once a year, on Christmas Eve. My grandma drags the whole family down there. It's a pretty liberal church. All they do is sing, and then during the prayer I listen and turn things over in my mind, wondering how people can possibly believe what the old man is saying. I'm not rude or anything. I'm interested in others' beliefs, and I don't want to give them a bad impression of atheists.
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:13 am
It was in my signature but I would like to share this cute line here that is church related: "If going to a church makes you a Christian, than going to a garage make you a car."I saw that as a car sticker in a shop...and I thought it was cute.
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:49 am
Pistil Last time I was in church, I was playing bingo. Last time I was in church it was for sunday school when I was six or seven or something. The supervisors gave the kids and I all pictures of Jesus to color, but because of the long hair and the robes, I thought he was a girl. So I colored his robes pink with yellow flowers and his hair was orange or something. Anyways they scolded me a lot, and I didn't understand why, and my parents got angry at them for making me cry and so I never went to church again. xD ...But the last time I was PHYSICALLY in a church was at my cousin's wedding. surprised Anyways, I don't remember church people being particularily nice or anything, but I myself am one of those naturally kind, passive and calm people who doesn't need any effort to be nice and generous and docile, or something like that. xd ; Eh... I wish I was evil. I love happy crazy evil things so much. x3 Unfortunately, I'm nice. It's just my nature. Anything else than being virtuous demands too much energy. sweatdrop Eh... but people at school are horrible to me anyways. They literally admitted to me they didn't like me because I'm different. o.o; I was so surprised that people could be so narrow-minded... I really shouldn't have change schools in January, even if my old one made me travel two and a half hours per day- my old one was international, so narrow-mindedness was out of the question. sweatdrop
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Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:48 pm
Mythee Last time I was in church it was for sunday school when I was six or seven or something. The supervisors gave the kids and I all pictures of Jesus to color, but because of the long hair and the robes, I thought he was a girl. So I colored his robes pink with yellow flowers and his hair was orange or something. Anyways they scolded me a lot, and I didn't understand why, and my parents got angry at them for making me cry and so I never went to church again. xD Haha, that's awesome. xd I don't go to any kind of church right now. But I don't think there's anything wrong with an atheist wanting to go for whatever reasons. Churches can provide a pleasant environment. A lot of people like the social interaction. However, if they know you're an atheist, things can turn cold quick. If you don't tell people though, it kind of seems... dishonest. But it's practical to keep your atheism discreet. I think it's kind of sad atheists can't find that kind of thing without having to tolerate the religious part, and I hope that the atheist community can form one at some point, though I'm sure not everyone will want to participate. Which is fine of course. biggrin Erm, this is really long. Sorry, you don't have to read it. sweatdrop I did go to a church camp for a week every summer from first grade to twelfth. I only stopped because they will only take you until the summer after your junior year of high school. I'd probably still be going if I could. It was a tradition for my two friends and I, even after we drifted apart in junior high. Even after I became an atheist, it was just really fun. It's definitely been interesting to see my transition in my beliefs over the years. In the beginning years, of course I believed in Catholocism. I grew up in that environment. The middle years, starting at the middle of junior high, I was doubting big time. I'd go into camp doubting, but came out feeling like I could be Chirstian. Being in an environment where everybody believes intensely and expects you to as well is very powerful. It only took a few days out of camp for me to doubt a lot again, but it is a testament of how much your enviornment can affect you. The last two years I went, I was a confident atheist. Not that I told my friends or the camp. Then the whole thing was just ridiculous, and scary. Once they were saying how they were all excited for the end of the world, where they would go to heaven and everyone else would suffer. One of my friends at least agreed with me when I asked if that was freaky. It was still overall a good time though. The last time I went was really awesome, and I really reconnected with one of my friends (one didn't go that year). Right now I'm going to the University of St. Thomas too, which is a Catholic college. I'm a bit exasperated with myself. I mean, what exactly did I expect going into it, lots of tolerance and diversity? They even put me on the Catholic women's floor in my dorm, though that was a coincidence (I think). The school is just now in a bit of an identity crisis, trying to decide if it's going to be hardcore Catholic or more open. I mean, it's not horrible... yet. I'm thinking of transfering. Sorry if this veered off topic, but it's just another religious environment.
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Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 11:44 am
Pistil Last time I was in church, I was playing bingo. Lol, last time I was playing bingo, I was in the mental institution. When I was younger I went to church with my family every Sunday. But that was ages ago.
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