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Any Practicing Christians?
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Anonymous
Yes, this is the clear undercurrent (or not so "under"current) in this thread -- people don't like born again Christians because of a bias against the fundamentalist religious right. Look, I don't like the Rick Warrens or James Dobsons or Focus on the Families of the world either (at all), but I think it's totally unfair to read into the OP's fairly innocent inquiry and pile onto her simply because liberal Christians are sick of the loud right wing. I am a bleeding-heart liberal, a churchgoing Christian who would never identify myself as born again, who eschews a literal interpretation of the Bible, who prays that my denomination will ordain gays and lesbians as clergy in the near future, who was as terrified by "Jesus Camp" as the next good Democrat. But I find the tone of many of the posts here criticizing the OP to be just as hateful and abhorrent and closed-minded as those people with whom you perhaps unfairly associate the OP. |
Anonymous
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Poster 17:28 and 18:57 again
Now you guys are making me crack up this is truly funny. I am by no stretch of the imagination an evangelical and I wouldn't even call myself more overtly religious than others. Just because I have been defending the OP, I am now aligned with the religious right? This is so hysterically funny. I spent part of my career fighting against the antics of the RR. Yes I have my little list of how I try to practice but I don't expect others to have my same view nor would I judge or exclude someone from my social circle who had different beliefs. Sorry if I sounded like I was judging. But I don't get the anger toward the OP. |
Anonymous
I honestly don't think it is as much anger at the OP as wanting to correct the OP. The anger came from all the follow-up posts of people saying, "What's so wrong with her saying she fully integrates Christianity in her life?" and the like. This notion of integration is subjective. This notion of religiousness is subjective. You would, for example, surely consider the Pope religious (in that he does nothing else BUT practice religion), but I don't think he would meet the litmus test for what many born-again Christians consider practicing Christianity. So obviously we're not talking about religiousness on a spectrum. We're just talking about a different religion. Why not then just call it that? |
Anonymous
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PP, that's disingenuous and you know it. There was anger and hostility toward the OP almost from the outset, which is what prompted the "Why so mad at OP?" posts. And the "fully integrated" post was on page FIVE, so that's not where the controversy started (though I understand what that poster meant, I also totally get why that's a loaded term).
I think it's pretty easy to read the OP's post (and her subsequent explanations, which were exclusively kind) as innocent, but if you want to get up in arms, by all means, that's what DCUM does best. |
Anonymous
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Call me crazy but this life long agnostic would much rather spend time with the orginal born again poster than any of the subsequent angry and nasty liberal christians. I'd prefer to run far way from whatever strain of christianity it is that they profess to be practicing.
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Anonymous
Okay. You're crazy. |
Anonymous
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Well said, 19:40.
Atheist homo-commie-lovin' son-of-a-gun here who really doesn't think that OP was trying to exclude or judge anyone. From what OP has written and what I understand of some born-again Christians' life philosophies, it just seems to me that OP was trying to reach across a divide between herself and some possibly like-minded people who are not particularly visible in her school community. For some people, including Christ and scripture in every aspect of life is common and preferred, and apparently in her school community, OP has not been able to find people whose everyday lives and conversations and interactions are so steeped in religion as hers is. She described being rebuffed by people when she reaches out in person, and came here to find similar parents without being intrusive about it. I think that the point of saying "fully integrate" Christianity into life, she didn't mean that these are people who "walk with Christ" more sincerely or fully than anyone else, but people who, on a playdate, will say grace at snack and perhaps read Bible stories and make the biblical/scriptural lessons and practices the core of how they spend their time. I don't think that she said that other people are not really Christians, just that she wanted to spend time with someone who practices Christianity the way her family does. Not so different from asking where to find SAHMs in the XOXO school district, or where to find an attachment parenting group in Arlington. As a person who has faced more than my share of religious ostracism and prejudice, I can say that I feel very sensitive to people who are trying to judge or impose. I didn't get that from OP-- just that she's a born-again in a more mainstream school environment and wants community. Don't we all want community? |
Anonymous
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"I think that the point of saying "fully integrate" Christianity into life, she didn't mean that these are people who "walk with Christ" more sincerely or fully than anyone else, but people who, on a playdate, will say grace at snack and perhaps read Bible stories and make the biblical/scriptural lessons and practices the core of how they spend their time."
How do you know what she meant? "I don't think that she said that other people are not really Christians, just that she wanted to spend time with someone who practices Christianity the way her family does. " How would you or I know how her family practices Christianity? You're guessing. |
Anonymous
LOL! I haven't posted before, but this liberal, non-fundie Christian gets tired of all the hostility. The hostility seems to be coming from some dark personal place rather than anything OP said. |
Anonymous
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The reason the OP didn't post "Any Born Agains?" was because they don't like that term anymore. Makes them sound like loonies. Now they just call themselves Christians, but somewhere in the conversation will creep these telltale phrases like "personal commitment to the Lord" and "daily walk with God" -- that's how they can seperate out the wheat from the chaff.
Christianity has been around a long time. No one in my mom's generation ever asked someone else if they prayed before lunch. You did or you didn't. And you got on with life. |
Anonymous
And your last statement is not judgmental? |
Anonymous
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Well, it probably is judgmental. And it's replying to an extremely judgmental post that talks about "angry and nasty liberal Christians".
And your point is? |
Anonymous
If we are being judgmental, it's directed toward a group of people who believe it's wrong to be gay and that you can change your sexual orientation, that abortion is wrong (and bombing clinics is the way to go), that the Bible is literal (Eve did come from Adam's rib, thereby making her a "lesser" being), that women should be subservient to their husbands, that natural family planning is the only form of birth control, and that unless we're "saved," we're all going to hell when we die. Need I add more points? Signed, Angry and Nasty Liberal Catholic |
Anonymous
This just proves, as if it wasn't clear enough, that the hostility and judgment in this thread aren't about the OP at all, but about people's own prejudices and assumptions about people who identify themselves as "born again." Please show me where the OP suggested ANY of the above. Y'all are mean, mean, mean, mean. Signed, Not Angry, Not Nasty, Liberal Protestant (who does not believe it's wrong to be gay, who is pro-choice, who doesn't believe the Bible is literally true, who doesn't believe that women should be subservient, who is a big fan of birth control, and who doesn't believe you have to be "saved" to go to heaven... but who also thinks the OP sounds WAY nicer and WAY less judgmental than those of you who are filled with such ire at her very simple question. |
Anonymous
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I can't resist posting, on the subject of theological acrimony (and if you can't guess, the inspiration behind my login name)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlztu55qquA |