Uncomfortable religious situations you were forced into

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And to this day in your grown up skin you still feel uncomfortable about the situation ?

You need a hobby. It's not like you were tortured.

Please dont be a rude

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Which part of "why did her mother send her over there for three days in the first place" is such an alien language to such militant anti-religious people?

This is hysterical.

Having someone's kid in your house does not give you the right to force your religion on them, period. A mom should be able to trust a family friend to watch her kid for a few days without having to explicitly say, "Don't try to force your religion on my kid, please. These are basic rules of polite society, like keeping a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, or washing your hands before a meal, or remembering to do your laundry.

If you are a Christian family who is doing a favor by hosting a non-Christian kid, and if the kid looks like he's able to be at home alone for 2 hours a day (like the PP, a teenager, was clearly capable of) then give him a cheery good morning on Sunday, show him where the cereal is, tell him not to open the door for strangers, and whisk your Christian family off to church. Your guest can stay at home.

Because that is a basic expectation of polite, secular society. You're welcome.

I'm Jewish, and when my brother needed surgery while my dad was traveling, my mom stayed with my brother in the hospital and shipped me two blocks away to a neighbor who is Catholic and has two daughters. They prayed at each meal, thanking Jesus for it. I sat quietly. The second night the dad asked me, "Jess, is there a jewish prayer to say before a meal?" and I thought for a second. "There IS!" And they all smiled and we all joined hands again even though that's not how jews pray, and I stumbled through the Hebrew prayer you say before eating, and they all said Amen. So I started saying Amen after their jesus prayer, even though I wouldn't pray to Jesus. Come Friday after school, the mom asked me "Do you need to go to temple tonight? Because I can send you with Rachel?" and I told her no, I could skip it, and she said "And I think we'll skip church on Sunday morning as well."

Two months later they invited me over to come decorate the Christmas tree. I invited them over to do the first night of Hanukah candles with us.

Four months later at the end of our Passover seder my mother sent me two blocks to their house with all our leftover hard-boiled eggs for them to paint for Easter. I feel like THIS is how a friendship between two religions should go.

Great story. This made me feel good, like there is goodness in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a school that was supposedly not religious but they forced us to go to some sort of mass. Everyone had to say the Lord's prayer which I don't know, and it was embarrassing. I wanted to leave but felt like I had to stay there.

Sounds like your atheist parents weren't smart enough to do their research.

There is no reason to assume PP's parents were atheists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And to this day in your grown up skin you still feel uncomfortable about the situation ?

You need a hobby. It's not like you were tortured.

Please dont be a rude

PP, I was going to say, please dont be a jerk, but i wanted to be nice and changed my mind, and meant to say, please dont be rude. Forgot to take the 'a'
out.

[Anonymous]

I accompanied a friend to a Hindu temple. She wanted to pray for her son to do well on his exams and needed a ride. It was very cold so she said to come inside rather than sit in the car. At some point, she handed me a paste of something and told me to eat it. I wasn’t sure how to gracefully decline, so I did. The food was a part of the ritual. I was very uncomfortable and guilty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom made me take communion at my grandfather's funeral even though I hadn't been confirmed because she didn't want to admit to her aunts that she had left the church. I knew only enough about Catholicism to know I was going to get struck by lightening.

You do not need to be confirmed to receive communion as a Catholic. 7 and 8 year old children do it. Confirmation is at 14 or 15.

[Anonymous]

Every time one of my fellow Jews invites me to the horrible occasion of the Bar Mitzvah. I would say “tradition” of Bar Mitzvah but Bar Mitzvahs aren’t old enough to carry the honorable tradition of Bar Mitzvah. Who in the Bible, Old or New Testament, was ever Bar Mitzvad? If the Bar Mitzvah were an ancient tradition, it wouldn’t be a Bar Mitzvah, it would be a Ben Mitzvah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the same, but it's something that really bothered me at the time and still does.

At work, the facilities manager (handles parking passes, temperature control etc) guessed I was Muslim based on my name and said he was the same religion. he bragged that he had been studying the Arabic and tried to show off with phrases (even though I am not a native speaker either). One day he tried to bully me into reciting my "favorite verse from the Quran" in Arabic. I was so flustered and uncomfortable and he wouldn't let it go. I felt like he was judging me for not remembering. I finally cut him off and made an excuse to get him to leave. This was like 3 years ago and I still feel very upset when I see him around or think about the incident.

He was putting the make on you. It had little or nothing to do with religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Room mother in Catholic school started speaking in tongues during a prayer circle.

That is not a Catholic thing. Are you sure she wasn't having a seizure?

[Anonymous]

I was about 19 and accompanied my then boyfriend to his grandfathers funeral. He was catholic and I am Jewish. Af some point he introduced me to the priest who asked me what church I attended. My bf said I was Jewish. The priest looked at him and said “don’t worry, we’ll convert her to the right side” and they both laughed. I should have dumped his ass then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My very Italian nonna was horrified when my parents told her that little toddler-me was a lefty. She came to spend a few months with us when I was learning how to write and would smack my left hand when I tried to do anything with it. She would make me sit on my left hand while I was doing homework to force me to be right handed.

I still write right handed now but do anything else southpaw.

And you deem this reflective of religious beliefs? Sorry, but it happens in all kinds of belief systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Room mother in Catholic school started speaking in tongues during a prayer circle.

That is not a Catholic thing. Are you sure she wasn't having a seizure?

Yep, not Catholic.

[Anonymous]

My church youth group was extremely conservative-- I remember sitting in youth group sessions where the youth group director (also a teacher at my school) gave prescriptive directions on avoiding sexual situations and badmouthed other religions.
I knew, even then, that something was wrong -- that this teacher probably didn't love and was definitely judging her students. I tried other churches and found places that I love- but ultimately decided that religion isn't required to be a good person and that I don't need any religion to tell me how to be a good person. I'm an atheist now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish and have spent time with Catholics and people of lots of other religions. It's mostly gone swimmingly. We used to host a Passover seder and we fell into an unintentional habit of always inviting someone who wasn't Jewish. Once it was my Italian friend in high school, once it was my brother's Indian friend in college, etc.

When I went to college, I didn't drink (not for religious reasons) and all the other girls on my floor were big partiers. The RA hated me - I think they all thought I looked down on them? But she scheduled a mandatory floor meeting at a dining hall during Yom Kippur, when I was fasting. I went to her and said due to religious reasons I wouldn't be able to attend, and she made a big deal about "You may only be a freshman but you should learn in your English 101 class what mandatory means, you're going to get in huge trouble and possibly kicked out of school if you don't show, etc."

I got so worried I went to the RA in another building - he was really cool and we'd become friendly - to talk with him about it. He laughed and was like "Come hang out with me that day. So we sat on his bed all day on Yom Kippur talking and listening to Janet Jackson. I did NOT get kicked out of school for missing the meeting and my RA never said a word about it to me.

Later, before winter break, she had a floor meeting. She called each girl's name one by one and handed each girl a Christmas card. Towards the end, she called my name. I went up, and she said, in front of everyone, "You know, I had a Jewish kid last year who I gave a Christmas card to, and she got all bent out of shape about it, so I didn't get you one so you wouldn't be offended." Everyone laughed as I sat back down.

I haven't thought of that in DECADES! Damn, she was ignorant!

That is awful. So sorry you had to experience that.

At my organization the same department has called for big important meetings on both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur despite there being several Jewish employees. If someone called a mandatory meeting on Good Friday there would be mayhem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Room mother in Catholic school started speaking in tongues during a prayer circle.

That is not a Catholic thing. Are you sure she wasn't having a seizure?

Yep, not Catholic.

Charismatic Catholics speak in tongues. A friend from my parochial school was from a family that did that.