Rant about family

[Reaper]

Or you could just try to convert them to atheism, I did that successfully with my parents and the rest of my known family .

[Pangloss]

Adding another interesting point on top of this... and perhaps more appropriate to the person we're addressing here in the fora... Why can't the family make peace with what he's doing, because that's just his way?

 

They might, but there's not a single thing he can do about that.

 

I get your point (to the tree) about repressing his feelings and I completely agree, but ultimately they're going to do whatever they're going to do, as free human beings, and he'll eventually have to come to terms with whatever that is. It's ultimately the only real choice any of us actually has. Freedom doesn't mean you can change other people's minds.

 

The world would be a much saner place if people could just get over things they have no control over. Dr. Phil would be out of a job, as would Maury Povich and Jerry Springer. There would never be another video tape of abusive spouses or annoying neighbors. The entire industry of psychoanalysis would die overnight -- all those people out of work! Swarms of locusts! Parting of seas! Cats and dogs living together! Oh sorry (slaps self) got a little carried away there.

[iNow]

The entire industry of psychoanalysis would die overnight -- all those people out of work! Swarms of locusts! Parting of seas! Cats and dogs living together! Oh sorry (slaps self) got a little carried away there.

I've got to give you credit for working a Ghostbusters reference into a thread about frustrations with family who try to ostracize someone for their lack of religiosity. Well played sir.

[Luminal]

Why is my family so obsessed with my atheism? Every time I'm town, they ask "So, are you still an atheist?" and they sometimes even joke about me burning in Hell...TO MY FACE. Now, isn't that messed up? I mean they honestly believe I will be tortured forever, and they are laughing about it! I've been confronted about it 3 times already and I've only been in town since late Wednesday night. If I were to confront them every time I see them and ask them if they were still Christians, they would be SO insulted and probably chalk it up to persecution. If I were to joke about them being Christians, they would be even more insulted. Why can't they just leave me alone about it? What's the big deal, I mean I just believe in one less god than they do.

 

I understand your situation, because I am in it as well.

 

My family used to hound me every time I visited them from college.

 

Amusingly, I happened to be well prepared for their onslaught. You see, they sent me to a Christian school for 6 years, whereas my family only attended church once a week. I knew far more of the 'religious texts' than they did themselves, which allowed to quote it at the first sound of an oncoming sermon.

 

Since this is a science forum, I won't mention the exact verses, yet one of my favorite rebuttals was the chapter that commands overweight individuals to take their own life if in the presence of a leader.

 

Seeing as my parents are not exactly thin (amongst other verses they were not following), their condemnations gradually grew infrequent.

 

In fact, I think our conversations have led them to more of a theistic evolution approach rather than strict young earth creationism. Now as for your own parents, I do not know how they would react to you using their own "scriptures" to cause introspection of their own stances rather than lash out at you, but it's worth a try. Especially if they are literalists.

[Realitycheck]

With all due respect to reality, one of the main reasons why we no longer live as savage and unruly despots is because of Christianity. I totally despise have anything to do with it because of its lack of accuracy to the historical record, but you have to give credit to where credit is due. When you are young, when I was young, I know much about where you are coming from, but sooner or later, you get old, the world beats down on you, over and over, until it finally sinks in, or you just die as an unruly old bastard that few will miss, unless you live in SFN valhalla, but I still have not found it. Everywhere I look, they all have a ring of 10 piercings in their nose.

 

What I would do if I was in your position is this. Say, "Hey. You do agree that accuracy is a good thing, right? (It's good to keep them saying yes or right. This is a very good tactic at helping to close the sale.) You do agree that the world was not assembled in 7 days, right? You do agree that psychology and sociology are valid fields of study in today's world, right? Well, here's my issue. I like to keep myself associated with the cutting edge of today's learning and education. There is no scientific justification for the concept of God, only people's ideas of what constitutes that. All we have to do is agree on the ultimate mission, right?" The rest is smooth sailing.

[Glider]

The ancient Egyptians weren't savage and unruly despots, neither were the Ancient Greeks (inventors of democracy), or Mesopotamians nor ancient (or current Chinese) nor Indians etc. etc..

 

If you check the activities of people like Godfroi de Boullion, Richard I (Coeur de Lion), Ferdinand II of Aragon, Pope Lucius III, I don't think Christianity deserves any particular credit. I think reason deserves more.

[john5746]

With all due respect to reality, one of the main reasons why we no longer live as savage and unruly despots is because of Christianity. I totally despise have anything to do with it because of its lack of accuracy to the historical record, but you have to give credit to where credit is due.

 

This would be a good candidate for the Darwin award.

[Sisyphus]

With all due respect to reality, one of the main reasons why we no longer live as savage and unruly despots is because of Christianity.

 

With all due respect to yourself, that's not quite true. Medieval Europe was at least as well populated with savage and unruly despots as any other place and time - and more so than many. It was the humanism of the Enlightenment that (eventually) changed that.