Funny girl

Merida001Merida001
in General

Someone I had been chatting to on this site for a while now, who I said ‘happy Easter’ to, asked if I was religious. I said yes. She asked if I was Christian. I said no, I’m pagan.

Then she said she couldn’t be friends because she hates religious people. And then she got all nasty.

How disappointing. 😔

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Comments

  • sunnysideupsunnysideup

    People are weird! If she is that judgmental then that’s someone you don’t want to be around, good riddance I say.

  • Merida001Merida001

    Suunysideup totally agree!

  • [Deleted User]Sweetdoll (deleted user)

    I am so sorry that happened! I have to agree though with Sunnysideup, it sounds like you may be better off because one, hate is such a strong word, and two, as long as we treat each other with kindness and respect to each their own on others' differences. Idk, but, better to know now I suppose :).

  • cuddles_ndreamcuddles_ndream

    She did you a favor! (This may not make sense, but trust me), when people show you who they are, believe them.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan
    edited April 2022

    My sympathies. It is very disappointing. And very sad.

    It is likely that the person had some very bad experiences at the hands of people who claimed to be religious.

    Religion gets a bad rap a lot of the time. It's used as an excuse by a lot of nasty people.

    @cuddles_ndream

    when people show you who they are, believe them.

    Sound advice.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    Back when I was in college, I had a female friend who was quite beautiful. Guys were constantly hitting on her, but she had a great way of getting rid of them. She would look them in the eye, and very earnestly ask "have you been saved?"

  • blisscuddlesblisscuddles

    @Merida001 Happy Easter to you! Hope you enjoyed your Easter Sunday.
    Tolerance and understanding is in short supply these days unfortunately; some from life experiences and others just swept up by words of those who wish to divide.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs

    @Merida001 I'm so sorry that happened to you. This is a very immature outlook on her behalf, and you seem like a wonderful person. Too bad she won't have you as a friend.

  • ShaneSchruteShaneSchrute

    @GreatHornedOwl that’s a great idea until she meets the way too forward male Christian.

    @CuddleDuncan good point about this person having a tough time with religious people.

    @Merida001 sorry this happened to you.
    Frankly it was their fault not yours; if I had such a strong hate for a very large group of people (all members of any religion) then it would be on me to put that right on front street. That should be the first thing on their profile and/or the first question asked.

    Hopefully you find a connection with some of the wonderful people on here. They certainly exist.

    Be well.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    This whole thread has reminded me of a funny story.

    Quit a few years ago, I answered a knock on the door. There stood a young couple with a stack of pamphlets in their hands. It was a fairly cold day, so I let them in. Big mistake! I can't remember which Christian sect they were from, but they insisted on inviting me to come to their worship service. They insisted that I take one of their pamphlets. They asked if I believed in god, and I told them that I did.

    After almost 10 minutes, they showed no sign of leaving. Finally, I decided that if they realized that I wasn't taking them seriously, they would go away. At one point, the guy asked what religion I was. The conversation went something like this:

    What religion are you?
    I'm a devil worshiper.
    But I thought you said that you believe in god.
    I do. Don't you believe in the devil?
    Yes, but you're going to go to hell.
    Well I should certainly hope so!

    When I realized that they were actually believing me, I really started laying it on. I invited them to come to a meeting of the coven. I told them about dancing around the fire. I told them about chanting incantations. When I started telling them how much they would enjoy the orgies, they fled in terror. Thinking back on it, I don't know how I was able to keep a strait face.

  • MxSmithMxSmith

    @Merida001 i'm sorry you received a negative response to the positivity you were trying to share. As an exvangelical, I've spent many years deconstructing religious trauma and I will admit to having wrestled with a huge amount of anger after leaving my previous faith. It sounds like what you experienced was probably someone's anger towards their own trauma. It's unfortunate, but also an extremely important part of their recovery. Anger is an emotion our bodies give us to protect our physical and emotional (and spiritual) boundaries. It sounds like this person was expressing a boundary, which is something we support here in the cuddling world, although I'm sorry this person had to do it in a way that was painful to you.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    @MxSmith - Nobody seems to find it strange that people of one religion hate people of another religion. Why should it be hard to understand that someone of no religion should hate people of any religion? The world is loaded with bigots.

    While this certainly doesn't apply to all members, but there seems to be something about religion that engenders hatred. While certainly not an exhaustive list:
    Hindus & Muslims hate each other.
    Muslims hate Jews.
    Suni Muslims & Shia Muslims hate each other.
    Christians hate Jews
    Catholics and Protestants hate each other.
    Big-endians & Little-endians hate each other (Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels)

    Why on earth should you think that "what you experienced was probably someone's anger towards their own trauma." Isn't it more likely that this was just another example of religious engendered hatred?

  • UCpaaHVg6u0UCpaaHVg6u0

    @GreatHornedOwl That's a curiously chosen non-exhaustive list, vocal in its omission.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    @UCpaaHVg6u0 -That list wasn't really chosen at all. It was merely the first bunch of pairs that popped into my head. It didn't seem worth the effort to think about expanding it. Feel free to make whatever additions you care to.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs
    edited April 2022

    @GreatHornedOwl says: Big-endians & Little-endians hate each other

    I've learned something new; in all my years of computer programming I had no idea two ways of representing information hated each other. I knew they didn't work together - but hate - now that's a new level :-)

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl
    edited April 2022

    @CuddlesByDeep - Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels was a satirical novel. The Big-endians and the Little-endians (representing Catholics and Protestants) were having a prolonged war. The dispute was over should hard boiled eggs be opened from the big end or the little end.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilliput_and_Blefuscu

    Computers didn't exist in 1726.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs
    edited April 2022

    @GreatHornedOwl Aah I get it, I actually had to read Gulliver's Travels in school - but clearly forgot much of the story!

    Anyways, the modern day reference is relating to how information is represented in computers. Hence my reaction.

    This should be fun though - next time I document a piece of code decoding a memory address I should use the terms "catholic address" and "protestant address" and see the comments I get in code review. Oh wait - I just finished my sensitivity training Friday, that kind of stunt might get me fired - okay nevermind.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    I'm a retired electronics engineer / computer programmer, but that reference didn't even occur to me.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @GreatHornedOwl @CuddlesByDeep I love your verbal tennis match and neither one let the ball hit the ground. I like both of ya'll's forum posts in general. You keep this semi-intelligent person mentally stimulated. Thanks.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    @achetocuddle - No, thank you. I sometimes wonder if our banter is really appropriate, so I'm pleased to know that at least somebody appreciates it.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @GreatHornedOwl You comments are a bonus for me. I enjoy a lot of the forums, but I don't always have an informed opinion or cannot articulate what I think, so I stay silent. I also don't want to be part of the discussions where as @Cuddle_RN put it, they seem contentious or wanting to start a fight. I always hope those of you that have informed opinions about so many subjects will continue to write. Signed, A Grateful Lurker. LOL.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs
    edited April 2022

    @achetocuddle Thank you! I love to keep the ball in the air! But better yet, it's such fun to build the skill to aim straight for the lines with the confidence the ball will land inside every single time. Of course, that's where the true game is! These forums are awesome for doing that. I love reading your posts.

  • achetocuddleachetocuddle

    @CuddlesByDeep I know we are not to turn a thread into mutual admiration society, but I liked how you worded this latest comment and also agree with it. OK, I'm done. LOL.

  • CuddleDuncanCuddleDuncan
    edited April 2022

    @GreatHornedOwl it is simply not true that religions hate each other. That is a nasty, nasty lie, put about by those who seek who create division and inspire violence. Shame on you for repeating it.

    Haters hate. Some of the haters claim to belong to one religion or another. Some of them belong to bowling clubs.

    Here is an example of the reality:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/02/09/afghan-refugee-maryland-interfaith-sponsor/

    It is not true, as you assert, that there is something about religion that engenders hatred. It's exactly the opposite: haters find a home in religion because nobody else will take them in. Sometimes their hatred trumps the love they were shown.

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    @CuddleDuncan Thank you.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • KansasDadKansasDad

    I do not typically give greetings like Happy Easter or Merry Christmas because I do not assume that everyone is a Christian, unless their profile identifies them that way. If someone gives me those greetings, I say “thank you” and I may or may not let them know that I am not Christian depending on the situation. I will chat with and be friends with pretty much anyone of any religion or no religion unless they are in my face trying to change my beliefs or telling me I am going to hell. But others feel more strongly or are more selective. Takes all kinds to make a world. Sorry for your bad experience here. I hope you will find others to have good conversations with.

  • GreatHornedOwlGreatHornedOwl

    @CuddleDuncan - I never said that religions hate each other. Religions are inanimate, and are incapable of hating, or loving at all. The practitioners of those religions are another story.

    However, do you have any idea of how many tens of thousands of Muslims and Hindus killed each other simply because they hated people who were the wrong religion?

    Can you even make a guess how many Catholics and Protestants killed each other, starting out with Henry VIII? How about the English Civil War, fighting for Charles I or Cromwell? What do you call "the Troubles in Northern Ireland? They all died because they were the wrong kind of Christian.

    How many Christians and Muslims slaughtered each other during the crusades, and in all the years since?

    What do you call the the Spanish Inquisition, which saw Catholic Priests torturing and killing Jews, if not pure hatred? What do you call the neo-nazis marching through Charlottesville, Va chanting "Jews shall not replace us," if not pure hatred?

    Can anybody even count the number of Sunni and Shia Muslims who have died because they can't agree about who should have become the leader of Islam 1.390 years ago? Even the Hatfield / McCoy feud didn't last that long.

    Add it all up, and millions of people have died because somebody else hated them for their religious beliefs. You can call it what you want, but I call it stupid hatred.

  • MxSmithMxSmith

    @GreatHornedOwl sorry for the delay. I'm sick with Covid :( I'm speaking out of my own experience with religious trauma and what has made me overwhelmingly angry and likely to lash out in the past. That's how I interpret this other person's negative response. I see your argument is to go extremely broadly the history of religious hatred, but that's never how I experience my own anger. In a moment of anger I never think "Because history has been this way, and all the horrific war and torture, I hate you for telling me about your faith". I'm personally motivated by my personal life experiences and I think most people are. "My childhood was dictated by these religious beliefs which I have spent years in therapy detoxing from, which has been incredibly painful for me and my family and it's still painful when someone tries to kindly proselytize me. It's so painful that I have to protect myself from it emotionally and spiritually by pushing them away."

    If you want to talk about religious war and all that, .. that's a much bigger discussion that I'm not prepared to throw myself into, but I think it's much more complicated than that people are predisposed to hate each other's religions.

  • RadiantHugsRadiantHugs

    @MxSmith sorry you are sick! Get well soon. Sending healing vibes your way.

  • MxSmithMxSmith

    thanks @CuddlesByDeep <3

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