larry@cci-bdc.UUCP (Larry DeLuca) (04/26/85)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR EXPERIENCE *** this is a serious survey for anyone who is Christian. If the results are voluminous enough, I will summarize a response to here and net.religion. I'm curious about how you, as a minority, are treated in the world. Are you accepted, are you "accepted" (read: to your face you are, but there's something funny here), or are you blatantly rejected? Do you ever have anyone threaten you? Do the neighborhood kids pick on yours for their beliefs? Do you ever feel rejection from your children, who, searching for their own identity may reject parts of yours in that search? Do you ever worry about being open with coworkers for fear of censure? Do you think it affects your likelyhood of getting a job at any parti- cular place? Do you ever feel so pressured by outside forces that even though God is there to lean on you doubt, if just for a little bit, before you are reassured by prayer or other means? I'm not a Christian. I'm sort of a humanist. It's just that I've never seen any sort of discussions on the Christians as a minority. We talk about oppression of gays, Jews, blacks, and just about everyone else. Does being Christian (since major settlements in this country were first started by Christians, and the majority of its people favor some form of Christianity) become a "preferred" minority (here I speak largely to fundamentalists, who are a subset that has recently rebelled against the teachings of the Catholic and Protestant churches in an effort to "get back to the basics" of what Christ's life was supposed to teach us)? Do other Christians (eg. Catholics) reject you for your beliefs, or do they accept them as different interpretations of the same truths? And how do you feel about their beliefs? larry... -- uucp: ..mit-eddie!cybvax0!cci-bdc!larry arpa: henrik@mit-mc.ARPA This mind intentionally left blank.
garys@bunker.UUCP (Gary M. Samuelson) (04/29/85)
> Are you accepted...? Yes, as long as I don't try to "cram my religion down others' throats." Which, generally, means not mentioning religion at all. I perceive the notion that "any belief (or none) is OK, as long as you're sincere" to be almost universal (even among Christians). To suggest that *any* religious proposition is either true or false (rather than saying "it works for me") is a real conversation stopper. > Do you ever have anyone threaten you? Only on the net. (1/2 :-). Seriously, I have seen articles which lamented the fact that Christians are not persecuted the way they were in the good old days. > Do the neighborhood kids pick on yours for their beliefs? > Do you ever feel rejection from your children...? Not applicable. We have one child, who is 30 months. > Do you ever worry about being open with coworkers for fear of censure? Yes. (And, in my mind, this constitutes a confession of sin.) > Do you think it affects your likelihood of getting a job at any parti- > cular place? No. But it does affect the likelihood that I would accept a job at some places. > Do you ever feel so pressured by outside forces that, > even though God is there to lean on, you doubt, if just for a little > bit, before you are reassured by prayer or other means? Yes. (Another confession.) It is a wonder to me the things that some people have gone through, yet maintained their faith. And I wonder if I would be nearly as strong. > Does being Christian ... become a "preferred" minority ... ? I'm not sure I understand the question. If you mean, are Christians treated better than others, because of their Christianity, I would say not. > (here I speak largely to fundamentalists, who are a subset > that has recently rebelled against the teachings of the Catholic > and Protestant churches in an effort to "get back to the basics" > of what Christ's life was supposed to teach us)? I wish someone would post a definition of "fundamentalist" so I could figure out if I am one. I know some people think I am, but I am not sure what they mean by the term. I am in favor of getting back to the basics of Christ's teachings, but the term "fundamentalist" seems to connote a lot more than that. > Do other Christians (eg. Catholics) reject you for your beliefs ... ? In general, no. There are some who appear to think that my beliefs are so far wrong as to be damning, but not many. To be honest, though, Christians (including me), like anyone else, tend to associate only or primarily with those who agree with them. So the harmony we think we have is sometimes illusory. > And how do you feel about their beliefs? Depends on the belief. Not a terribly informative answer, I suppose, but it's a terribly broad question. There are beliefs which are essential to Christianity. There are beliefs which are a matter of individual discretion. Unfortunately, there are disagreements about which are which. Some people seem to think that the first set is empty, and others that the second set is. So, if I hold a particular belief, and believe that my position is essential (note that that makes two beliefs), and someone else rejects both the belief and the classification of the belief as essential, then we will both be uncomfortable (or worse). Gary Samuelson ittvax!bunker!garys
dubois@uwmacc.UUCP (Paul DuBois) (05/02/85)
> [Gary Samuelson] > I wish someone would post a definition of "fundamentalist" so I > could figure out if I am one. I know some people think I am, > but I am not sure what they mean by the term. I am in favor of > getting back to the basics of Christ's teachings, but the term > "fundamentalist" seems to connote a lot more than that. The definition of fundamentalist is to be named Paul DuBois! Actually: My dictionary here says that fundamentalism is "A Protestant movement holding the Bible to be the sole historical and prophetic authority." So I guess a fundamentalist is someone who believes that. E.g., me. -- | Paul DuBois {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois --+-- | "The presence of weeds in the garden is not explained by | saying that the gardener has not pulled them yet."