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What effect do the people of a certain religion have?

E

Ellie_r

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Im curious to know what factor the people of a religion have on one or if they even play a factor at all. For example for me, im Catholic and i attend a Chaldean Catholic church; well Chaldeans tend to be a bit extravagant. You know that saying, "wear your Sunday best;" most of them go above and beyond that saying. They dress really fancy for church and for me at least it gets really distracting. One more thing about Chaldeans is that they stare and make every situation uncomfortable; it really took away from my church experience and i honestly wasnt paying attention to the mass most times.

Fortunately that wasnt the only Chaldean Catholic church in the area so I just switched churches and mass times and its one of the best religion choices ive made.

Does anyone have a situation or experience where the people of a certain religion made them do something similar to my experience,or even something such as change religions?
 
Unfortunately, the more religious of my faith have for the most part pushed me further away from my faith.

:(
 
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Ellie_r said:
Im curious to know what factor the people of a religion have on one or if they even play a factor at all. For example for me, im Catholic and i attend a Chaldean Catholic church; well Chaldeans tend to be a bit extravagant. You know that saying, "wear your Sunday best;" most of them go above and beyond that saying. They dress really fancy for church and for me at least it gets really distracting. One more thing about Chaldeans is that they stare and make every situation uncomfortable; it really took away from my church experience and i honestly wasnt paying attention to the mass most times.

Fortunately that wasnt the only Chaldean Catholic church in the area so I just switched churches and mass times and its one of the best religion choices ive made.

Does anyone have a situation or experience where the people of a certain religion made them do something similar to my experience,or even something such as change religions?
Click to expand...



Every flavor and subflavor of religion, and every individual church, has its "culture" and norms, in addition to its spiritual and moral teachings, so of course you're going to run into a wide range of behaviors depending on what religion, denomination and individual congregation you're talking about.

For instance, I'm Southern Baptist. Some have suggested that our "holy symbol" ought to be "the covered dish" (ie a pot, pan or other container with a cover or wrap, containing food, for taking to another place). Why? Because we are always bringing food to eat as a group. Someone is born, we bring food. Someone dies, we bring food. Someone gets married, we bring food. Someone gets baptized, we bring food. New Pastor? Bring food. Old pastors' anniversary? Bring food. Oldest members' grandsons' nephew graduates college? We bring food. :mrgreen:
 
Ellie_r said:
Does anyone have a situation or experience where the people of a certain religion made them do something similar to my experience,or even something such as change religions?
Click to expand...

I was raised in a pretty fundamentalist Baptist church, which is even more stringent than Southern Baptists. Since I was raised in that atmosphere, I never had anyone or anything drive me away, except for my own questioning, and that began when I was around 14 years old, and peaked when I was in my mid-20's, and left the church altogether. It wasn't that anyone offended me or made me want to leave. It was that I had many questions that the church (and/or membership) couldn't answer, and I knew that I would have been branded as a heretic because of some of my beliefs.

That being said, I always thought Catholic mass was pretty cool, because of the formality and ceremony. I still have many habitual and mental traits of the dogmatically religious, I just practice and adhere to my own beliefs nowadays, which is sort of a combination of different religions and psychological concepts.
 
Goshin said:
For instance, I'm Southern Baptist. Some have suggested that our "holy symbol" ought to be "the covered dish" (ie a pot, pan or other container with a cover or wrap, containing food, for taking to another place). Why? Because we are always bringing food to eat as a group. Someone is born, we bring food. Someone dies, we bring food. Someone gets married, we bring food. Someone gets baptized, we bring food. New Pastor? Bring food. Old pastors' anniversary? Bring food. Oldest members' grandsons' nephew graduates college? We bring food. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

Hehe- so true.:lol:

I spend the day with my mom every two weeks, on Thursdays. Today was our day. My mom has stayed very active in church since my dad died a year ago, and is now serving as the church treasurer, so she's pretty involved at a higher level that just member. A few months ago, their pastor decided to make a change in the Sunday services. They go to Sunday school, then everyone brings food, for having lunch immediately after morning service, then they socialize for awhile, then they have their evening service at about three o'clock in the afternoon, when sets them all free for Sunday night. They LOVE their Sunday lunches and socials. :mrgreen:

Now, to get back on topic, I've noticed that my mom has gotten much more open-minded as she has aged, especially when it comes to different faiths. Her perspective has grown, and she is not nearly as inclined to jump to conclusions about people of other faiths. It's been an interesting evolution of a religious soul to observe. Cool mom I have. :)
 
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Ellie_r said:
Does anyone have a situation or experience where the people of a certain religion made them do something similar to my experience,or even something such as change religions?
Click to expand...

Not really, I never was a church-goer. My beliefs are very unconventional, as they're derived by my own conclusions, and not what was written and later compiled into a book.
 
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Thunder said:
Unfortunately, the more religious of my faith have for the most part pushed me further away from my faith.

:(
Click to expand...
there are baptists, mormons, catholics, jews, muslims, etc. who are hard core and look down on those who practice religion "light" in thier views.
 
Ellie_r said:
Im curious to know what factor the people of a religion have on one or if they even play a factor at all. For example for me, im Catholic and i attend a Chaldean Catholic church; well Chaldeans tend to be a bit extravagant. You know that saying, "wear your Sunday best;" most of them go above and beyond that saying. They dress really fancy for church and for me at least it gets really distracting. One more thing about Chaldeans is that they stare and make every situation uncomfortable; it really took away from my church experience and i honestly wasnt paying attention to the mass most times.

Fortunately that wasnt the only Chaldean Catholic church in the area so I just switched churches and mass times and its one of the best religion choices ive made.

Does anyone have a situation or experience where the people of a certain religion made them do something similar to my experience,or even something such as change religions?
Click to expand...

In your switch in churches, did you even consider the possibility that no church is true? Just wondering.

As for me, I don't have a faith experience/testimony.

I have grown up in an area where Fundamentalist Baptists and Southern Baptists are the norm. The idea that gays are any better than rapists would cause one of them to cringe. Of course, this type of thing rubs off on you, when every single person you know is a Fundie (short-hand for a Dogmatic/Fundamentalist Christian, not strictly an insult) - I began to dislike homosexuality and gays in the same way, even though I never believed in a Hell.

So it took me many years, and even to this very day to get rid of that thought process. I received no proper science education when it comes to Biology, so I was skeptical of Evolution, even though I knew there was no deity to create the diversity of life. (In retrospect, it does seem weird but remember that my peers thought Evolution=our great-great grandfather was a monkey. In fact, Kent Hovind was someone I was introduced to at a young age. Fortunately after a long process of self-education, I accepted Evolution and Global warming, unlike most people I know to this day.

As for what my opinion of Christianity, Islam, Mormonism and Scientology are? Well let's just say, I enjoy thinking about their demise. Won't get into any detail, so as not to offend people.

I think my "religious journey" is a bit like Thomas Jefferson's.
 
Smart said:
In your switch in churches, did you even consider the possibility that no church is true? Just wondering.

As for me, I don't have a faith experience/testimony.

I have grown up in an area where Fundamentalist Baptists and Southern Baptists are the norm. The idea that gays are any better than rapists would cause one of them to cringe. Of course, this type of thing rubs off on you, when every single person you know is a Fundie (short-hand for a Dogmatic/Fundamentalist Christian, not strictly an insult) - I began to dislike homosexuality and gays in the same way, even though I never believed in a Hell.

So it took me many years, and even to this very day to get rid of that thought process. I received no proper science education when it comes to Biology, so I was skeptical of Evolution, even though I knew there was no deity to create the diversity of life. (In retrospect, it does seem weird but remember that my peers thought Evolution=our great-great grandfather was a monkey. In fact, Kent Hovind was someone I was introduced to at a young age. Fortunately after a long process of self-education, I accepted Evolution and Global warming, unlike most people I know to this day.

As for what my opinion of Christianity, Islam, Mormonism and Scientology are? Well let's just say, I enjoy thinking about their demise. Won't get into any detail, so as not to offend people.

I think my "religious journey" is a bit like Thomas Jefferson's.
Click to expand...

Jefferson? you flatter yourself....:2razz:
It is confounding to me that some people don't particularly subscribe to any religion, may or may not believe in a diety, but want to put down those who do.......
Sounds like a character flaw to me.
 
A religion's legacy and effect on the world is made up of the actions of its members and nothing else.
 
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