Raj1037 asked this question on 2/21/2000:
I was wondering.. what exactly goes through the minds of religious people when they feel the need to force their majority religion upon all minorities within the nation? The posting of the 10 commandments, christian prayer in schools, christian creationism in schools.. and so forth, would all would discriminate against everyone who is non-christian (25-35% of the nation).
Do they not realize this is directly imposing their beliefs onto others? How would they feel if Islamics were to force the Koran, Islamic teachings, and Islamic prayer onto them? What if they were taught Hindu creationism? How about if they had to walk past idols from other religions everyday at school?
Are these things just completely out of their minds? I personally am an atheist, and I can't believe these people want to make the same mistakes the catholics did in England a few hundred years ago. This nation was founded and had such a large colonial population because they were trying to escape religious persecution. Have they completely forgotten that?
rainbowlady gave this response on 2/22/2000:
I agree with you completely (although I'm not an atheist or agnostic), but I can also see it from their point of view. And I ask you to follow my line of thinking in order to try to understand why they do what they're doing.
The Christian faith requires the belief that the only way to salvation is by accepting that 1.)You are a sinner and asking forgiveness for your sings 2.)Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins. You do not deserve this grace but it is yours nonetheless. 3.)Jesus rose on the third day and sits at the right hand of God in heaven.
They are then told, through the Bible, to be "fishers of men" and to go out and proclaim the good news to all peoples of the earth. To many, this means that they must attempt to convert you. If they make no attempt to "save you", many feel they will be held responsible for the fact that you are burning in hell. To others, it means that they must strive to make God's laws the law of the land also. To them, any government which does not operate under God's laws is corrupt and should be overthrown. The way to overthrow a government in this country is through legislation. In other words, their faith dictates that they take these actions, despite the fact that if they succeed, their right to worship as they choose is as jeopardized as those whose rights they have taken away. If they admit that they're "wrong" for trying to impose their beliefs on others, they're denying the very faith that they believe in. They believe they have the only way to heaven and what they do (for the most part) is done out of love for their fellow man. (And I'm not talking about the big political organizations like the Christian Coalition: they represent the average Christian about as well as the KKK represents the average white person.) They are worried about your soul and dont' want to see you suffer in hell for all eternity. To even accept that their might be alternatives for some is blasphemous.
Rather than let it upset me when someone tries to convert me, I thank them for their concern for my soul. I do, however, still fight against the attempts to make this a Christian nation and will do so up to my final breath.
Love and Light, Rainbowlady
Raj1037 asked this follow-up question on 2/22/2000:
I understand the Christian faith, I was asking more along the lines of whether or not they realize the fact that they are making the very mistakes they fled.
Women's repression, slavery, rape, they are all condoned by the bible and were very present within society in the dark ages. When women stood side by side and marched against repression, did they not realize they were going against the bible? Do the same women now not realize this fact? The beating of slaves is allowed, because (like the bible says) "the slave is your property". The bible also says slaves should tremble before their masters. I know many blacks aren't for these types of church-state issues (probably because they know what discrimination feels like) but some do want these measures passed.
The main thing- They have their tax free churches on every street corner, why do they want the government to do this? I don't think anywhere in the bible it says "Thou shalt pray every morning at school", or "Go ye to the schools, and post the commandments". I see nothing in the bible saying to force your religion upon everyone. It says teach the nations, but it doesn't say to force upon the nations.
Another thing, school prayer is just plain stupid, has no one read Matthew 6? It says you should pray in your closet.. and not let anyone know about your good deeds except god.
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Matt. 6:5-6
rainbowlady gave this response on 2/22/2000:
And that is what I was trying to point out. I honestly don't think they see it that way because to admit that that is the way it is would be to say "Something in my faith is wrong".
Maybe I can illustrate using an example from one of my books. A philosphy class on Modern Morality is one of the classes the main character takes. There are no tests in the class. The only requirement to pass the class is the understanding that morality is completely subjective. But as the main character points out, by requiring students to accept that, the teacher was imposing her own morality on others, something the class was designed to prevent.
It is a paradox: in order to completely follow their faith, they must deny that they are preventing others from doing the same. And they do this by saying that God's law is greater than man's law. And that their obligation is to God's law above man's law. That if God's law and man's law conflict, then God's law takes precendence. This removes the paradox and places them "in the right". Along with Hitler, the KKK, Aryan Nation.........
Love and Light, Rainbowlady
The average rating for this answer is 4.
Raj1037 rated this answer a 4.