Humanities & Classics 3270
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Sixties Forum
Humanities & Classics 3270 |
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In Reply to: My problem with Harris posted by Erin Anderson on May 14, 1998 at 17:44:54:
Erin has some very valid points. in most situations, when people are told that their opinion does't count or that what they say is naturally wrong because it opposes their opinion, this angers them and causes them to rebel against what the other person says or does. I suppose that it isn't a very mature reaction, but we all do it at one point or another.
My sister belongs to a very strange church. I will not name it or the religion so as not to offend anyone. I went to church with her last easter because wshe really wanted to go but no one else could go with her. I was absolutely appalled. The minister wanted everyone to raise their hands if they had or wanted to let jesus into their hearts. I was the only person that I saw who did not have their hand up. It's not that i oppose church so much, I was just taken by surprise. Jesus? God maybe. We are used to him being the center of religions, in various forms. Not only was i alone in my opinion, i recieved a lot of dirty looks. So what? i thought to them. At least i'm here aren't I? the minister personally handed me a bible and said that he would pray for me so that i could let jesus in.
Strange? yes. But not compared to what he said after. He began to talk about their christian beliefs. He actually said that once everyone realized what the true religion was (theirs) then they would be a real person and be able to be with jesus. In their eyes, I wasn't even entirely human because i did not believe the way that they did.
my sister's religion causes a lot of family arguements as you can imagine. She is the only one in the family who belongs to this church. She doesn't show us respect or much love because we aren't really people yet. She talks to us, but for the most part she ignores what we have to say because obviously as subhumans our opinions and thoughts aren't real.
my mother tried to talk to my sister about excepting other religions. She does not even accept other christian religions. Catholics aren't devout enough, and I thought that they were fairly devoted to their beliefs. The rest of my family is catholic, and I think mass is a very scary, oppressing situation. Its very open minded compared to my sisters church. My mother said that we are all on different paths to the same place. I think that is a very good opinion. My sister won't accept that. We try to tell that jesus himself was a jew (unrecognized in her eyes) but that doesn't faze her. Yes, she says, but christians are jesus' followers. And besides, god put him in that position so that he could learn about the wrong side and help them to see the right. Please. Why is her religion, of all the other religions, the one true right one?
i wondered off the subject, but it is and interesting experience to be thought of as being on the lower end of the spectrum and seeing what it is like to have your opinions be brushed aside. It is truly enraging. Just because my belifs are different does not mean that they are any less rational or wrong.