Comments on: Talking to Fundies: A Day at the Beach

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:40:05 +0000

They are few and far between. The trinitarian organizations have done what they can to suppress unitarian ideas.
The organization I belong to is scattered around the world. My family are the only members in our area so we simply “do our own thing”. Some like to call it “home church”. I think that’s corny though.
If you research it you will find there are just as many sects of unitarian thought as there are trinitarian. I’ve simply picked the one that makes sense to me given my current understanding.

By: Thinking Ape

Thinking Ape — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:14:49 +0000

thelaymansjournal,
Good point with the cults. I was downtown Vancouver last weekend and we walked past the Church of Scientology office. She asked me some questions about it and we got to talking about the “difference” between religions and cults. Colloquially, it appears that a cult is simply a religion without a certain threshold of political power.

I would love to check out an Unitarian church – there aren’t many around here – the closest is over an hour away.

By: thelaymansjournal

thelaymansjournal — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 18:37:46 +0000

I am a Christian, yet I relate to this post from when I was a Baptist. I recall that one of their forte’s was to teach you not to read material that was “counter-Baptist” so to speak. Don’t listen to rock music. Don’t hang out with “non-Christians”, unless you’re attempting to convert them of course. Don’t read or study anything to do with “the occult”, evolution, etc. It seems to me that their purpose was to shelter you from finding out that much of what they believe is rooted in the very things that they teach you to stay away from. If you have a Christian belief that differs from theirs, you are in a cult. Considering their behavior, I believe it is quite the opposite… For the most part.
Now I am a unitarian Christian and I simply keep my mouth shut when it comes to religion unless I am asked a question about what I believe. And even then I try to keep my answers as short as possible so as not to offend anyone.

By: angllhugnu2

angllhugnu2 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 19:31:03 +0000

Are you in the closet? i do realize “the closet” is symbolic. BUT, I am not quite sure the perception of where you find yourself is. YOU ARE IN A CLOSET of your own making. And, that is really okayt! In fact, we all ARE!

When we find ourselves amidst the swarms of those with whom me find disagreement, this is not an accident. We are baiting ourselves a hook on our own spiritual fising pole to see what person we might catch to prove to our own self we ARE right about our own spirituality. I have discovered this to be a way we finally figure out “we are co-creators in this world” with what is great and magnificent. And, it IS as well the reason for why we eventually do come to understand how it is we are “The Way, The Truth, and The Life….and how know one comes to us without The Father within them as well.

http://www.booklocker.com/books/2980.html

By: Brian Jarrett

Brian Jarrett — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:50:00 +0000

Great post; reading “The God Delusion” surrounded by fundies is pretty ballsy. I had a similar situation while out to dinner; a lady asked me if my son was a “Jesus-Boy”. I politely tried to diffuse the situation by saying we weren’t that religious and hoped she’d just drop it. She just kept on and on and finally I had to tell her we had things under control and to not worry about us. I didn’t want to get into a heated, public theological debate with a 70 year old woman and fit the “evil atheist” profile her leaders have no doubt warned her of. All I wanted was to be left alone.

By: salahudin

salahudin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:06:50 +0000

http://towelianism.wordpress.com/2007/07/02/take-an-oath-with-us/

Come take an oath with us… *smiles*

By: pastorofdisaster

pastorofdisaster — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:19:56 +0000

When I am in similar situations (all too often) I always wished that I kept my mouth shut. A friend of mine always says, “would you rather be right or happy?” Thanks for the good post.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:30:42 +0000

I am an agnostic. I am a former fundamentalist Christian, Baptist.
My wife is still a Christian.
We home school, but never did it for religious reasons at all. We just thought we could do it better and be closer as a family.
My goal is to at least teach my kids to think for themselves.

My whole family on both sides and the community we live in is full of fundamentalist of different brands. The crap will hit the fan for me one day I know. I have not figured out how to handle it.

By: tobeme

tobeme — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:27:59 +0000

Sounds like you handled your day at the beach well. I believe in open conversation, the type of conversation which inspires thought. I think it is important to remember that many of today’s agnostics were once whom you consider fundies. This is why it is important to have an open dialouge.

By: Thinking Ape

Thinking Ape — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:54:00 +0000

“And I would have a couple of books on the go. Perhaps something a little safer for Christian company.”

In some Pentecostal circles, this is a surprisingly limited choice. I come from a Mennonite background and some of us are even ALLOWED to read Harry Potter