Uncomfortable religious situations you were forced into

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No no no no no, dear. You didn't read carefully. OP is the child of a SINGLE MOTHER. There are no PARENTS involved. It was mama -- alone -- who was working and needed childcare. (Perhaps that was part of the problem?) So, like many of us do when we're desperate, she relied on the help of these friends of her daughters. What part of that is being dense on my part? You, clearly, have your own issues.

From victim-shaming to single-mom-shaming. Just wow.

VICTIM-shaming?!?!? LOL. OP was NOT a victim of anything. Get a grip, lady!

+1. The poster "defending" OP has clearly lost all sense of perspective.

Lol, the PP who thinks shaming a single mom ("Perhaps that was part of the problem?" - are you fucking kidding me?) is the one who has lost perspective here. There are a whole bunch of angry, defensive folks who took PP's thread into a whole new context because beating up a straw man is a lot easier than having a normal discussion about boundary-pushing in religious situations. In other words, typical DCUM.

OMG you have issues. Nobody, but nobody was shaming single moms. I say this as a single mom.

Your hatred of religion has turned you into a freak show.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No no no no no, dear. You didn't read carefully. OP is the child of a SINGLE MOTHER. There are no PARENTS involved. It was mama -- alone -- who was working and needed childcare. (Perhaps that was part of the problem?) So, like many of us do when we're desperate, she relied on the help of these friends of her daughters. What part of that is being dense on my part? You, clearly, have your own issues.

From victim-shaming to single-mom-shaming. Just wow.

VICTIM-shaming?!?!? LOL. OP was NOT a victim of anything. Get a grip, lady!

+1. The poster "defending" OP has clearly lost all sense of perspective.

If she ever had perspective. Which doesn't seem likely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No no no no no, dear. You didn't read carefully. OP is the child of a SINGLE MOTHER. There are no PARENTS involved. It was mama -- alone -- who was working and needed childcare. (Perhaps that was part of the problem?) So, like many of us do when we're desperate, she relied on the help of these friends of her daughters. What part of that is being dense on my part? You, clearly, have your own issues.

From victim-shaming to single-mom-shaming. Just wow.

VICTIM-shaming?!?!? LOL. OP was NOT a victim of anything. Get a grip, lady!

+1. The poster "defending" OP has clearly lost all sense of perspective.

Lol, the PP who thinks shaming a single mom ("Perhaps that was part of the problem?" - are you fucking kidding me?) is the one who has lost perspective here. There are a whole bunch of angry, defensive folks who took PP's thread into a whole new context because beating up a straw man is a lot easier than having a normal discussion about boundary-pushing in religious situations. In other words, typical DCUM.

OMG you have issues. Nobody, but nobody was shaming single moms. I say this as a single mom.

Your hatred of religion has turned you into a freak show.

Guess what? I'm religious, and even practice in one of the sects of Christianity. If you have serious reading comprehension problems like 90% of the trolls here, good luck to you. Out of the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No no no no no, dear. You didn't read carefully. OP is the child of a SINGLE MOTHER. There are no PARENTS involved. It was mama -- alone -- who was working and needed childcare. (Perhaps that was part of the problem?) So, like many of us do when we're desperate, she relied on the help of these friends of her daughters. What part of that is being dense on my part? You, clearly, have your own issues.

From victim-shaming to single-mom-shaming. Just wow.

VICTIM-shaming?!?!? LOL. OP was NOT a victim of anything. Get a grip, lady!

+1. The poster "defending" OP has clearly lost all sense of perspective.

Lol, the PP who thinks shaming a single mom ("Perhaps that was part of the problem?" - are you fucking kidding me?) is the one who has lost perspective here. There are a whole bunch of angry, defensive folks who took PP's thread into a whole new context because beating up a straw man is a lot easier than having a normal discussion about boundary-pushing in religious situations. In other words, typical DCUM.

OMG you have issues. Nobody, but nobody was shaming single moms. I say this as a single mom.

Your hatred of religion has turned you into a freak show.

Guess what? I'm religious, and even practice in one of the sects of Christianity. If you have serious reading comprehension problems like 90% of the trolls here, good luck to you. Out of the thread.

Everybody who has left middle school is sick of posters who use "reading comprehension problems" as the laziest of ad hominems. And unChristian at that, and what Christian says "sects" instead of "denomination"-kinda of doubt you're Christian. Lots of people here disagree with your take, and if the best you can do is "reading comprehension problems" and your ridiculous charges that single mothers are being slandered, then good luck to you, too. You will need it.

[Anonymous]

I'm in 8th grade and I approve PP's message.

[Anonymous]

Basically got forced to speak in tongues by a guest preacher during a church event when I got separated from my parents when I was a kid. We went to really weird, judgmental charismatic churches for a while. Turned me off religion for a long time. I eventually came back to faith, but it took over a decade of being away and I ended up in a different denomination from what I was raised in.

[Anonymous]

When I was 10 my family moved to southern virginia. One day at school some church was giving away bibles and I was one of the only kids who refused to take one since I'm Jewish. I had a classmate tell me that because I'm a Jew I'm going to hell. I tattled on her to a teacher only to be told that "hell isn't a bad word when you're talking about it as a place where sinners go to" and then she added something lame about not making fun of other people's beliefs.

[Anonymous]

My mother became a Jehovah's Witness when I was 7, so the entire rest of my childhood was one long uncomfortable time.
The worst was probably when I was 16. My mom had read in my diary that I had kissed a boy. I was taken to a panel of church elders-all men- and asked very intimate questions. (I was still a virgin).
In the end I was mortified and silent. They wouldn't allow me to babysit their children anymore, and I was on probation at the kingdom hall.
The end result was my total back turn on that faith. I was an abused child and not one human there, including my mom, ever asked if I was ok, depressed, or hurting.

[Anonymous]

The absolute worst was when I was about 12 or 13. My parents went to Friday night services, and I got permission to skip it that evening. I was sitting in the family room, watching TV, when two boys from down the street (also around 12 or 13) walked into the house (we didn't lock doors bwck in those days), walked past me, and into the kitchen where our Shabbat candles were lit. I followed them in, just as they blew out the candles. They looked at me with hate and said, "that's what we think of your G.D. religion." Then they walked out (and I was actually relieved they didn't hurt me).

I didn't know what to do. We are not allowed to light candles after Shabbat starts, so my parents would see the half-burned candles and I'd have to tell them what happened. That would mean Dad would go over to the boys' house (they were brothers) and tell their father - and they would have been punished bigtime. But those boys would have made my life at school a complete nightmare as "payback." So....I re-lit the candles and never told my parents.

P.S. One of those boys grew up to be a very famous rapist. If I gave his name, you all would know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The absolute worst was when I was about 12 or 13. My parents went to Friday night services, and I got permission to skip it that evening. I was sitting in the family room, watching TV, when two boys from down the street (also around 12 or 13) walked into the house (we didn't lock doors bwck in those days), walked past me, and into the kitchen where our Shabbat candles were lit. I followed them in, just as they blew out the candles. They looked at me with hate and said, "that's what we think of your G.D. religion." Then they walked out (and I was actually relieved they didn't hurt me).

I didn't know what to do. We are not allowed to light candles after Shabbat starts, so my parents would see the half-burned candles and I'd have to tell them what happened. That would mean Dad would go over to the boys' house (they were brothers) and tell their father - and they would have been punished bigtime. But those boys would have made my life at school a complete nightmare as "payback." So....I re-lit the candles and never told my parents.

P.S. One of those boys grew up to be a very famous rapist. If I gave his name, you all would know it.

Well now you have to tell us the name. Come on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The absolute worst was when I was about 12 or 13. My parents went to Friday night services, and I got permission to skip it that evening. I was sitting in the family room, watching TV, when two boys from down the street (also around 12 or 13) walked into the house (we didn't lock doors bwck in those days), walked past me, and into the kitchen where our Shabbat candles were lit. I followed them in, just as they blew out the candles. They looked at me with hate and said, "that's what we think of your G.D. religion." Then they walked out (and I was actually relieved they didn't hurt me).

I didn't know what to do. We are not allowed to light candles after Shabbat starts, so my parents would see the half-burned candles and I'd have to tell them what happened. That would mean Dad would go over to the boys' house (they were brothers) and tell their father - and they would have been punished bigtime. But those boys would have made my life at school a complete nightmare as "payback." So....I re-lit the candles and never told my parents.

P.S. One of those boys grew up to be a very famous rapist. If I gave his name, you all would know it.

Well now you have to tell us the name. Come on.

Anyone who lived in the DC area in the early 1980s might figure it out. Take a guess.

[Anonymous]

What an esoteric way to bully. I wouldn't even know the candles are important such that it would occur to me, "Let's blow out the candles! That'll show 'em."

[Anonymous]

I'm a Muslim woman, and I wear my scarf proudly. Last year, I went to attend our office manager's husband funeral at a baptist church. There were few people who seemed to be all related to the deceased man. The priest started his speech calling for non- believers to convert, and went on saying if you think your Muhammad will save you from hell you are wrong and you will burn and that is okay to feel shy and not raise your hand to accept Jesus as your savior, but you should think about it.. It was an ackward situation, I felt the entire speech was directed at me. I was the only Muslim in that funeral so Duh. I still remained calm, although I was tempted to raise my hand and correct some of his facts about Islam- but I decided not to out of respect for the family of the deceased. I had to remind myself that I chose to be in that church so I just have to zip it till end of service. At the end, I went and gave my condolences to our office manager and she was shocked to see me and asked if I were present during entire service- I smiled and said yes but don't worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, were they all child molesters at this church, op? Did they force you to handle snakes?

I would have been uncomfortable, too. But unless you feared for your safety, so what? You were uncomfortable for a few days. I dont understand why you think this was such an unacceptable thing for them to do. Bringing a friend to church while they were under my parents care is exactly what my own parents did and what most other parents I knew did. Uncomfortable, sure. Egregious, not really.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Muslim woman, and I wear my scarf proudly. Last year, I went to attend our office manager's husband funeral at a baptist church. There were few people who seemed to be all related to the deceased man. The priest started his speech calling for non- believers to convert, and went on saying if you think your Muhammad will save you from hell you are wrong and you will burn and that is okay to feel shy and not raise your hand to accept Jesus as your savior, but you should think about it.. It was an ackward situation, I felt the entire speech was directed at me. I was the only Muslim in that funeral so Duh. I still remained calm, although I was tempted to raise my hand and correct some of his facts about Islam- but I decided not to out of respect for the family of the deceased. I had to remind myself that I chose to be in that church so I just have to zip it till end of service. At the end, I went and gave my condolences to our office manager and she was shocked to see me and asked if I were present during entire service- I smiled and said yes but don't worry about it.

Well, as a Catholic, I've had other religions put on the guilt trip here to. Not just Christians. Others. That's what we call tolerance. Thank you for being a tolerant Muslim. You did the right thing. I'm sure everyone was thinking the speaker was an ass and glad you did not join him.