Starboy

Was that a rule at that school? Or do you remember? In anycase IMO that teacher was out of line. I suppose you could have told her that it was none of her business, but then again why rock the boat. I will say that I was so happy to get out of highschool. I've experienced similar episodes of school mind control as an atheist. Certainly most of my teachers were fine people but the few that were not ruined the overall experience.

Just in case, you were not part of some praying demonstration in study hall were you? Was this just you and your friend?

Starboy

Muffinstuffer

1. No this was not a rule at the school, as others found out later...others who were a bit more knowledgable challenged it. But at the time this teacher and her sidekick, the English teacher, seemed to be on a vendetta, and as I did not know all my rights (as mentioned in a previous post), I didn't say much.
2. No, this was no demonstration.
3. Yep, just me and my bud.

Sabine Grant

Bonsoir Ronin... indeed a sad illustration of how the concept of God can be used to nurture personal egos where the need to be absolutly right will prevail.

Here is another dilemna in those divisions....the few who do not consider that concept as a mean to control others and attempt to use it for personal improvement end up being caught in between. They belong nowhere in the spectrum of religion. They are also rejected by the secular ideologies. They wander about...sort of a voice in the wilderness. Because they are a minority, they are drown in the unsufferable waves of generalization and stereotyping.

Deep faith requires the understanding that human beings will fail other human beings but God will not. A faith concept which allows a believer to grace other humans in their failures while retaining a sense of entrusting God with the rest. That is the foundation of " not judging". The inspiration behind " not judging".

That teacher could have been a peacemaker... she could have taken both children aside and work on having them reconciled. Reconciliation is the key to all those divisions. The need to have mediators who promote open mindedness and validation of other individuals. Mediators who must set their own ego aside so they may accomplish the greater purpose of promoting harmony. Many have come and most were assassinated for their message was too much of a challenge.

I consider humanists to be able to play a crucial role as those mediators among divided minds.

Are we still working on that old bridge which had to survive a few earthquakes?

Rhea

Interesting thought.

In my experience, the mild-mannered Christians are not the minority. Rather they are a majority who, amazingly, tend to (not always, see Ronin-as-child) watch bad things happen without trying to stand up for their beliefs. They watch non-Christian take grief from Bad-Christians. They vote for Geo Bush Sr. without decrying his anti-atheist comments. And then they get confused when Atheists won't stand up for them - the majority who won't stand up for themselves. let alone anyone else.

But that's just my experience.

Sabine, are you really (really?) saying that Good Christians™ are a minority? I'm very surprised by that claim. Very! Maybe that would make a good poll.
? Are Good Christians™ a downtrodden minority?
(what does this say for the claim that christianity makes for better people? Hmmm. Only a minority of christians don't consider christianity a tool of power. Ouch.)

Radorth

A "Christian" has never been defined in a manner acceptable to most skeptics, never mind a "good Christian," so I think a poll would be an excercise in futility. Who can judge true motives anyway, except God?

I did propose a definition I think 85% of Christians here would agree with. It was not widely accepted, I'm afraid because some skeptics know they would have to stop calling Hitler and even the most ignorant, rotten Popes "Christians."

Rad

Opera Nut

There's that escape clause that Sabine mentioned. If any Xtian in history is bad, or kills people, or is mean to them, or tells them they are going to hell, then the other Xtians apologize and say "Oh they were not a TRUE CHRISTIAN", when in fact much of the killing in the name of religion, burning heretics, burning witches, etc. was done by very faithful Xtians. It seems to me that all the Xtians I met want to apologize for all the mean ones I tell them about, that have turned me totally against it. The hundreds of nice ones can't make up for 10 or 20 nasty mean ones I have met.

The other escape clause used on us ex-Xtians is "Oh you didn't pray enough. You weren't a TRUE CHRISTIAN". That is extremely insulting to me!!!
They can't read my mind, they don't know what I went thru!!


:banghead:

Bree

keep in mind that the above term and phrase have never been defined in a manner acceptable to most Christians, either. why else do we have so many differing sects which are so often at war with one another?

forgive me for being obtuse, but only i can judge the true nature of my own actions, thank you very much. i'm sure the same goes for everyone else, too.

Ronin

Bonjour, my lovely~

I'm all for it.

Are you still working under the misconception that god/christ/ghost is real and/or good?

Queen of Swords

Originally posted by Muffinstuffer
the vast majority of teachers I knew had something against Christianity.

I agree with Rhea... this seems atypical. I grew up in the Middle East, but even then I went to a Catholic school where the girls were actively encouraged to marry and have children ("the Pill will give you cancer!").

Sabine Grant

Bonjour Rhea... I think where I would appreciate your feed back the most is what role humanists can play as moderators....between those extremes separating equaly the secular world and the religious world where individuals focus on battling rather than looking for common grounds. That is where the key to harmony may be....